Mass Effect: Induction
by TheSorrow1145
Summary: Following the destruction of the Collector base, the crew of the Normandy SR2 tries to recover from the devastating raid. But the threat is not gone. The Reapers are coming, and Commander Shepard must unite the galaxy to withstand their assault.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All characters and settings contained herein are the property of Bioware Corp, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts Inc.

Prologue

It had been 3 days since the mission that had almost cost the crew of the Normandy their lives. Three days since they had destroyed to Collector base, and told the Illusive Man to piss off. Three days since Tali had taken the ultimate chance to be with Shepard, to be with the man she had loved for so long. She was still in the med lab with Dr Chakwas, getting a few more antibiotic injections to make sure her infection was cleared up.

"Well, Ms vas Normandy, it looks like you're going to be completely fine" said Dr Chakwas in her usual it'll-all-be-fine tone, "You may want to consider taking a few extra precautions next time you and the Commander decide to get together."

"Doctor!" exclaimed Tali, still immensely embarrassed by any mention of her relationship with the Commander, "Do you always go out of your way to embarrass your patients?"

"Nonsense dear" admonished Chakwas "I always respect patient confidentiality. Nothing we discuss leaves this room."

Tali's head whipped over towards the doors as she heard them slide open.

"And how's our favorite patient doing?" asked Shepard.

"Miss vas Normandy should be fit for active duty in a few hours, Commander" said Chakwas.

"That's good the hear Doctor", replied Shepard, looking relieved and, to Tali, a little uncomfortable. That wasn't a good sign. She'd seen him stare down a thresher maw on Tuchanka during Grunt's Rite of Passage without so much as a twitch, so if he was feeling nervous about something, it had to be bad. "Could you give us the room for a sec, Doctor?" asked Shepard.

"Of course Commander, and just so you know, Legion is over in the CIC, so you don't have to worry about it listening in." replied Chakwas, a bit of a smirk in her tone.

"Thanks, Doc, now if you don't mind" said Shepard, a bit of urgency in his voice. Chakwas left and Shepard hit the control that would turn the med bay windows to their one-way setting.

No sooner had the windows started polarizing than Shepard had walked over to Tali and lightly crushed her against him in a hug.

"Shepard, I'm going to need my ribs the way they are, if that's alright with you" squeaked Tali jokingly. Shepard eased off immediately, almost as if he'd been shocked.

"Oh, right, sorry, forgot you're still not one hundred percent yet, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm getting better every day" replied Tali "the reaction was fairly mild to begin with, and it'll only get better the more we get together as my immune system adapts to you."

Shepard let out a low growl in the back of his throat, and his eyes were practically smoldering "Can't say I can complain about that, Ms vas Normandy" he said, but then some of the desire left his eyes, replaced with a hint of concern, "but are you sure this is what you want, Tali? I want to be with you, but not if you're not entirely sure about-"

Tali cut him off by putting a finger over his mouth with one hand, while with the other hand she reached up and took the mask off her environment suit. "Shepard," she said, her voice no longer distorted by the helmet, "I told you before when the sickness was at its worst, it was totally worth it".

Shepard was amazed that she'd become so blasé about taking off her helmet, but looking at her, he couldn't complain about the results. He never tired of looking at her. Of all the features of her face, it was her eyes that held his attention the most. He had always figured, looking through the mask, that they were brilliant eyes, but without the mask they were a knockout.

"Well, if you're sure Ms vas Normandy, I can hardly deny you" he said, then pressed his lips to hers. She let out a little giggle, and pressed herself up against him. He responded in kind, holding her close. The kiss went on for several minutes, not that either of them cared. When they finally broke contact, they were both breathing quite a bit faster, which on Tali was fairly interesting to look at.

"Well Tali, before I was so cleverly distracted, I came down to let you know that I'll be up in my cabin working on a few reports, in case you'd like to come up and help me with a few of them."

"Of course, Commander," said Tali, as she reattached her mask, "I'd be happy to help".

"Good to hear Tali, just give me a few hours to make a tour of the ship, and I'll be in my office."

He gave her a last quick hug, then turned and left the med lab, leaving the windows polarized to give Tali a little privacy. _Keelah,_ Tali thought to herself, _how did I get so lucky?_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As Shepard continued making his rounds of the Normandy, he did so with a bit more of a spring in his step. _Man_, he thought to himself, _ I am so lucky_, then with a chuckle, mentally added _spacing notwithstanding_. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Garrus until he'd run into him.

"Dammit, sorry Garrus, didn't notice you there." said Shepard.

"Don't worry about it Shepard, I'd be distracted if I were you" said Garrus. Turians didn't really have the same facial expressions as humans, but the smirk was obvious to Shepard.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Garrus," said Shepard, "I was just thinking about how long we have until Cerberus catches up to us.

"Suuure, Shepard," said Garrus, completely seeing through the lie, "I'm concerned about Cerberus and everything, but I'm pretty sure you were thinking about a certain someone" he paused, then added, "not that she wouldn't put a spring in anybody's step, of course."

Shepard let out and explosive sigh, then gave Garrus his most menacing glare and said "Don't you have some calibrations to do?"

Garrus chuckled and replied "No, everything's going fine down in fire control, we've pretty much repaired all the damage from that Occulus attack down in engineering, though this ship could use a new paint job Shepard."

"Like we've got time to worry about that" said Shepard, "a few battle scars add character." He stopped, then looked around a bit to see if anyone else was around. They were alone as far as he could tell, but with EDI onboard he could never be sure.

"In all seriousness, Garrus, what's your take on Cerberus' response?"

Garrus dropped the upbeat facade and took on a more serious expression, then said "I don't know what to make of them Shepard. It's been 3 days, and EDI and Mordin are pretty sure they've wiped out most of the bugs on the ship, be we can't be completely sure that the Illusive Man hasn't got a few more hidden somewhere that we can't detect." he paused for a moment, considering other points, then continued "As for what they're response is, I'm not sure what to expect. From what you told me about the Lazarus project and the new Normandy, you represent a significant investment to Cerberus, and the Illusive Man seems pretty convinced that you may be humanity's only true hope against the Reapers. It might be that he doesn't want to pull the plug on you as long as you don't represent a potential threat to his plans."

Shepard rubbed the growth of stubble on his chin for a moment, considering that, then said "I don't really care about the Illusive Man's plans as long as he doesn't try to sabotage what we're doing. we may be a significant wrench in the works for him, but he isn't an idiot, he knows the threat the Reapers pose is real. As far as I'm concerned, the only things we have to worry about right now are the Reapers."

"What about the geth?" asked Garrus. It hadn't sat well with any of the crew when Shepard had decided to rewrite the geth 'heretics' to become loyal to the pure geth.

"Shepard Commander should not be concerned with us", said a synthetic voice from behind them. Both Garrus and Shepard jumped a little. For a synthetic with a flashlight head, Legion was pretty good at the stealthy approach. "We have accessed geth-controlled FTL comm buoys. The former heretics have rejoined the geth. We are one again."

"And what does that mean for us Legion?" asked Shepard, "Were there any negative effects as a result of the rejoining?"

"No, Shepard Commander, no system instabilities were introduced as a result of reintegration. Addendum: Heretics no longer present a problem for organics."

"Well that's good to hear, Legion. Anything else to report?" asked Shepard.

"Only that we have located and destroyed several more shielded surveillance devices aboard the ship. We assess that all remaining Cerberus devices have been destroyed." replied Legion as it made its way back to the AI core were it spent most of its time.

"Damn Shepard, that thing creeps me out every time I see it. And how was it able to access the FTL comm system at all? I thought EDI's firewall would keep it from doing that." asked Garrus.

At this point, EDI piped in with a quick clarification "Commander Shepard has given standing orders that Legion should be allowed free contact with the rest of the geth", before signing off again.

Garrus looked a bit concerned at that "Shepard, are you sure that's a good idea giving that thing free reign like that? What if it goes rogue on us?".

"The geth have only ever attacked in self-defense," replied Shepard, "and if Legion were going to betray us it had ample opportunity to do that at the Collector base. I need an open line to the rest of the geth, Garrus. Trust me on this."

"Always have and always will Shepard, you've earned that at least from me" said Garrus, "Now I really should get down to fire control, see if there's anything I can do with the main cannon. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, Garrus, let me know if anything comes up. I'll be in my office working on reports for the next few hours, just call before you come up." said Shepard as he turned toward the elevator.

At this Garrus looked over his shoulder and called off "Good luck with those 'reports' Shepard. Hope they don't give you too much trouble."

"Shut up, Garrus" said Shepard. He heard Garrus chuckle to himself as the elevators doors closed behind him.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shepard has finished his inspections about a hour ago and was in his office typing up a report. As usual, he was still working up a damage report of the Normandy. Despite the various upgrades prior to the mission, the Normandy had taken a hell of a beating at the hands of the Collectors.

The damage was fairly extensive, so his focus on the report was such that he didn't hear his cabin door glide open, or the quiet footsteps behind him. He didn't know Tali was there until he felt her hands on his shoulders. Without looking up he closed up his report, powered down his terminal, then reached up and took her hands in his. He got out of his chair, lightly picked her up and carried her over to the couch, then sat down with her on his lap.

"Well, Shepard," said Tali in that maddeningly seductive tone she always used when they were together, "you don't waste time, do you?"

"I didn't get where I am today by wasting time, Tali" replied Shepard, "time has a nasty habit of running out when you aren't looking."

Tali looked a bit shaken by that. Shepard didn't know how she had handled the 2 years that the Alliance and the Council had believed him to be dead after the destruction of the original Normandy. They still hadn't talked about it, and he didn't want to press her to relive that time if she wasn't ready too.

"I....missed you so much, you know that right?" she asked, and it made her sound like the kid she had been when she and Shepard had first met during that whole mess with Saren. "I thought you were dead, I wouldn't talk to anyone for weeks, I barely ate, I just didn't know what to do without you." She sounded like she was trying not to cry, and it was just as obvious that she wasn't going to be able to stop.

Shepard put his arms around her and hugged her close. Tali started to sob a bit more audibly. "Tali," said Shepard, "I'm sorry I didn't make it out then. I'm sorry I wasn't there with you for all those years. But you don't have to worry, I'm here now, and I'm not going to leave you again."

Tali sniffled a bit, then said "I know you won't Shepard. I couldn't lose you again. You've done so much for me. You helped me with my Pilgrimage, you helped me on Freedom's Progress, you saved my life on Haestrom, helped me with my trial, and then you saved me again in the Collector base."

"And you saved me on the way out Tali, I knew you would" said Shepard, still holding Tali very tightly against him. "You saved me from myself, you kept me on the right path, made sure I didn't forget about the people who were counting on me, kept me sane." He relaxed his grip on her, then reached up and took off her mask, "And you let me see you for who you were, both outside the suit and under the mask."

He placed the mask down on the table in front of the couch. "Tali, when the Lazarus Project brought me back, they gave me something much more important than a second chance at life or a chance to save the galaxy. They gave me a second chance with you, a chance to say all the things I didn't get to say before, to do what I couldn't do before. And if nothing else, I thank them for that."

Tali smiled at him, and at this range, combined with those eyes, it was absolutely devastating. "Well, Shepard, when you put it like that, how can I resist."

Then she leaned forward and kissed him. It started off slowly at first, with no urgency, just sitting there, hand roaming over one another, drawing each other closer. Then it intensified, the urgency of their movements building with every second. Then they broke off, both of them breathing heavily, their eyes smoldering with desire for each other.

Shepard stood up, took Tali by the hand, and pulled her up off the couch, where the kiss resumed with even greater intensity, as they slowly stumbled their way over to the bed. Shepard moved to pin Tali down, but Tali deftly stuck and ankle behind him, tripping him so that he ended up pinned down on the bed. As she started to pull off his shirt, he started unfastening the various safety catches and harnesses of her environmental suit.

As always, once he actually got the suit off of her (delicately of course, it was all Tali had left of her mother), he always had to stop for a moment to look at her. He had always been able to tell through the suit that she had a killer figure, but underneath the suit was the body of a goddess. It always made him sad that such a person had to be hidden from the world by a polarized helmet and environmental suit, but at the same time he felt blessed that he should be the only one to see the woman underneath, to know the she had trusted herself to him and him alone. She had been a bit skittish the first time, but a good portion of that skittishness was gone now, replaced with confidence and raw sensuality.

And then the time for observation was over as she pressed herself up against him and he responded in kind. They stayed that way for some time, but time was of no concern to them, there was only the need for each other. When it was over, they just lay together in each other's arms, utterly exhausted by their time together combined with the aftershock of the mission that had almost killed them both.

Before sleep claimed them, Shepard looked Tali in the eyes and said

"I love you, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

And she smiled back at him and said

"I love you too, Shepard."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shepard woke up when the lithe form in his arms stirred and let out a sneeze. He gently pulled his arms free and propped his head up on his arm, just watching her. Despite the sneeze, Tali was still asleep, and he never got tired of watching her. She was so beautiful. Moving slowly, so as not to wake her, he got out of bead and slowly got dressed. He then walked back over to the bed and, out of habit, checked her forehead. She looked a little blotchy, and her head was a little warm, but otherwise she seemed to be reacting much more mildly this time.

In response to his touch, Tali nuzzled up to his hand and made a little sighing noise. That drew another smile out of Shepard, and he slowly drew his hand away and quietly padded over to his terminal. Now that he was up he wasn't going to sleep anyway, and he figured he might as well get some work done. He powered his terminal back on and got back to work. When he powered up his terminal, the first thing that popped up were the booklets that Mordin had said he would send up.

"Dammit Mordin" he swore quietly to himself as he closed the windows. He knew that Mordin was only looking out for him and Tali, but this was a bit much. Then again, this could have been his idea of a joke. It was hard to tell with him sometimes. Then he reopened his report and finished off the summary of the damage to the armor. As he finished off the report, he heard the sheets rustling. He looked up just in time to see Tali, naked and beautiful, slowly wandering over to him, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Hey you," said Shepard, "what are you doing up?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," she shot back, as she stretched in place. It was mesmerizing to watch. Without looking at him, she added "And stop staring."

"Can't help it, you're cheating" said Shepard. "How're you feeling, by the way?"

"A little sore, nothing too major. I also have a bit of a fever, but it should clear up in a few hours." she said, somehow managing to throw a yawn in with the words. "Like I said Shepard, it's only going to get more mild the more we...get together."

Shepard powered off the terminal again, then stood up and picked Tali up again, carrying her over to the bed. He set her back down on the bed and put the covers back on her. "Alright, you should get some more sleep, I'll go scare up some antibiotics." he said, "We should be back at the Citadel in a few more hours, I'll wake you when we get there."

Tali yawned again, but still made a small sound of protest and tried to get up, but Shepard gently pushed her down, adding "Captain's orders" with a small smile on his face.

"Well, if you're going to be stubborn about it, I might as well", she said before rolling over onto her other side. She was back asleep almost immediately. Shepard planted a small kiss on her hair, drawing another pleased sound out of her, then padded over to the elevator and headed down to deck two.

As soon as the elevator hit deck two, Shepard got off the elevator and stepped into the CIC. It was pretty late, relatively speaking, so most of the crew were rotated onto sleeping shifts. The only people who would still be up were Joker, who never liked leaving the cockpit unless someone twisted his arm to do it, and Mordin, who never seemed to sleep at all. Shepard decided to go ahead and check in with Joker first.

As he walked to the front of the ship, Shepard just had to marvel at how quiet the ship was at 'night'. He often took these late walks, but it always fascinated him to be awake on the ship when almost no one else was. When he finally reached the cockpit, Joker was (of course) still up and having his usual argument time with EDI, this time over the thruster outputs again. Shepard was pretty sure that Joker was only slightly as annoyed with the AI as he had been before she had helped him save the Normandy.

"We have discussed this before, Jeff, ship regulations are very clear about in-operation thruster adjustments" said EDI, "attempting changes during operation could cause equipment failure."

"Not if you would just do some error-checking while we're doing it." snapper Joker, "You're an AI, EDI, can't you just step in if the measurements are getting too far out of line."

"I hate to interrupt this wonderful discussion the two of you so enjoy having," interjected Shepard, "but what's our ETA at the Citadel?"

"Should be about 4 hours, Shepard" replied Joker.

"Exactly 4 hours and 28 minutes, Commander" added EDI, somehow managing to sound smug despite her synthesized speech.

"Yes, thanks for the update, Mom" snapped Joker, "one of these days, I'm going down to the core with an axe."

"Don't get ahead of yourself Joker", said Shepard, "How many bones did you break just adding covering fire during that assault on the Collector base?"

"Only 3", Joker shot back, "and don't act like you were expecting that. You were surprised."

"For good reason Jeff, you shouldn't be straining yourself like that. You could cause permanent damage." said EDI, this time managing to sound concerned.

"I'll keep that in mind EDI" said Joker, though his tone softened a little in response.

"I'll leave you to it then Joker, let me know if anything comes up" said Shepard.

"Alrighty Captain" said Joker.

Shepard turned and walked out of the cockpit, waiting until he was out of earshot before letting out a chuckle. EDI and Joker had been at each other's throats since day one, but they'd gotten past most of their differences after EDI had saved Joker's ass when the Collector had come calling. And now that EDI was linked with the Normandy's systems, the Normandy was running much more efficiently. Joker was a hell of a pilot, but he was only one man, and EDI was doing a lot to help pick up the slack.

Now it was time to go talk to Mordin. As he walked into the research bay, he was surprised to see that Mordin was not at his terminal, but was staring out the window instead. Mordin was always working on some project, studying some new technology, or at the very least going over old Collector data. At fifty, Mordin was ten years past the average life expectancy for his species, yet he could still run his mouth faster than any salarian Shepard had ever met. He quietly walked over to stand next to Mordin. If he noticed, he didn't give any sign of it.

"Something on your mind, Mordin?" he asked.

"Never really took time to look at it all. Always on planets, working on labs, never had good view" said Mordin, "Always knew galaxy was big, never really got sense of scale, beautiful."

"This isn't normal for you Mordin. I don't think I've seen you not working on something except for when you were worried about your assistant. Something up?" asked Shepard.

"Am working, doing three projects right now, waiting for data to compile." replied Mordin, "Just taking time to think over life, accomplishments, failure, time left, other subjects." He paused for a moment, then asked "And how is Tali'Zorah? Assume her immune system adapting to you."

"That's what she tells me, and she does seem to be getting better." said Shepard, "she's running a fever right now but it's more mild than the last one, and her sinuses seem to be okay this time. You think a few antibiotics would help her out?"

"No, antibiotics help short term, slow down long term adaptation of immune system." replied Mordin, then added "Can help some though, came across dextro-amino based herbal tea while back. Won't do anything for immune system, but should help alleviate symptoms."

"That'd be great Mordin, thanks." said Shepard, "You need to talk at all?"

Just then Mordin's omni-tool let out a chirping noise. "No need, compiling finished, appreciate offer though. Will send recipe to your terminal."

"Alright Mordin, of you need to talk, you know where to find me."

"Will keep that in mind Shepard. Thank you."

"See you later Mordin." said Shepard, as he walked back to the elevator.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After a quick trip down to the mess to brew up Tali's herbal tea, Shepard returned to his cabin to find Tali sitting up in the bed, going over some files on a data pad. When she heard the door open she looked over at Shepard, setting the pad down at her side.

"What's that you've got there?" she asked, with a curious expression on her face.

"Just some herbal tea Mordin thought would help your symptoms a little bit." said Shepard, handing her the mug and sitting down next to her on the bed. She pressed up against him, taking a sip of the tea. She made a bit of a face at it.

"Not the best thing I've ever tasted, but it beats nutrient paste. No antibiotics, then?" she asked, taking another sip of the tea.

"Just drink it, it'll make you feel better." said Shepard, sliding an arm around her shoulders and hugging her a bit closer. "And apparently antibiotics are gonna slow down how quickly your immune system adapts to me. Blame Mordin."

"I'm sure he means well, and this stuff actually is helping a bit" said Tali, taking another sip. "So, how long until we reach the Citadel?" she asked.

"Word is about four hours, you should get some more sleep." replied Shepard.

"That won't work, I'm awake now, I think I'll just go work on the engines for a while. They're still a little messed up from the mission." said Tali. She slowly pulled away from Shepard and padded over to her environment suit where it lay on the couch.

"Keelah, you made a mess of this" she said, sounding half annoyed, half amused. Then she started sliding the suit back on. When she was finished, she walked over and kissed Shepard one more time, adding "I'll be in Engineering if you need me." She flashed him a quick smile and left, picking up her mask and securing it on her way out.

It always made Shepard a little sad to see her have to put on her suit and leave, but all he had to do was remember nights like this and the pang of sadness went away.

With a sigh, he got off the bed and made his way over to the elevator, then waited while it came back up from the engineering deck, then headed down to the crew deck.

On the crew deck the rest of the ship was getting up, and Rupert was making breakfast for everyone. Shepard went over to get himself a plate, then went and sat at a table and dug in. He had to admit, ever since he'd picked up the ingredients from the Citadel to add to the kitchens stores, Rupert's cooking had improved quite a bit. He was still eating when a shadow fell across him, then someone set a plate down across the table from him. He looked up and was surprised to see Thane sitting down across from him.

"Shepard," said Thane "I get the feeling you had a good night."

"What makes you say that, Thane?" asked Shepard, keeping most of the expression from his face.

"I ran into Tali'Zorah in the elevator on the way down here from the CIC," replied Thane, "She looked very...perky, I suppose."

"Is everybody just digging into our personal lives, Thane?" asked Shepard, trying to sound exasperated and failing.

That drew a smile out of Thane, who said "Take no offense Shepard, I'm not mocking you. I know how it feels to care about someone, and I see it in the two of you. I am...happy for you."

Coming from Thane, that was high praise indeed. "Thanks Thane," said Shepard, "I'm actually kind of surprised to see you out here. I thought you were still working with some trust issues."

"As I said before," said Thane, "a lifetimes habits are hard to break, but I'm adapting. It is...odd, having others on my side for a change. Usually it's just me and my target. This is different. I like it."

"Good to hear you're settling in with the crew, Thane." Shepard ate the last of his food then asked "By the way, how are things with Kolyat? You planning on visiting him when we get to the Citadel?"

"We are doing as well as we can. He seems to be coming to terms with what I've done." Thane replied, "If he wants to talk, then I will, but if he needs space, I can respect that. In any case, I should check in with that C-Sec officer to see how his service is going. Thank you for asking Shepard."

"Don't worry about it Thane. You've had my back during this mission, and you did it without asking for anything in return. This is the least I can do." said Shepard as he stood up to leave.

"All the same, Shepard, I appreciate it." said Thane.

Shepard walked out of the mess, pausing to clap Thane on the shoulder on the way out. He decided he would check in with Miranda. She had been very calm about Shepard's decision to abandon Cerberus, and considering her extreme loyalty to the organization, that troubled Shepard somewhat.

As he stepped into Miranda's office, she was, as usual, typing up yet another report on her private terminal. Since they weren't communicating with Cerberus at the moment, Shepard had to wonder who the reports were for.

"So, what exactly are you up to Miranda?" asked Shepard. Despite his concern about her loyalty, he liked Miranda personally, and felt he could count her as a dependable crew member, if not a friend, so he always made the effort to be polite.

"Nothing of importance at the moment, Shepard," she responded, "Just thought I'd send a message to Arianna to let her know we got through the mission in one piece." she paused, then added "Thanks to you of course."

"We all pitched in Miranda, I was just the guy in charge. Everybody did their work beautifully. How are things between you and your sister?" asked Shepard. Even though he'd helped Miranda slip her sister away from her father, Miranda had always seemed hesitant to talk to him about her.

"We're doing surprisingly well for sisters who just met each other not a week ago. I'm trying not to go into any more details about what we fought than I have to, but she's as smart as me, so she'll see right through them. Still, the Reapers are not a piece of information I want weighing on her mind" then, with a little smile, mostly to herself, she added, "It's the thought that counts."

"Good to hear that you're getting to know her better. She deserves to know her sister." said Shepard. "Though I am a bit surprised with you." he said.

She looked up at that and said "Surprised about what, Shepard?"

Shepard shrugged and said "I'm just surprised you're so calm about me kicking the Illusive Man to the curb. After all your time with Cerberus, I thought you might be making a bit more of a fuss over this."

Miranda stared at him for a moment, then threw a shrug of her own, saying "My opinion of the Illusive Man dropped quite a bit when he decided to try to use the Collector base. The crew of our ship barely survived when we tried to use one tiny piece of Reaper technology. If we tried to base our whole defense against them on their own technology, we'd be giving them the keys to the fort." Then she said "Don't worry about me Shepard, I'm not going to sell you out to him."

"I never said you were Miranda, I was just confused and trying to clear it up. You've had my back more than once. Trust was never a problem."

She looked a bit relieved by that, and said "Thanks for trusting me, Shepard. It's rare for anyone to extend that kind of trust to someone like me."

"Miranda, you're on my crew," said Shepard, "If I can't trust you, then we're all screwed. You can't have a team with no trust."

At that point, EDI chimed in over the intercom.

"Commander, we are within docking range of the Citadel. Protocol requires your presence on the bridge."

In the background, Shepard heard joker grumble "Like I can't dock a ship without the Commander looking over my shoulder."

"Understood, EDI, I'll be right there." said Shepard, then, to Miranda, said "Talk to you later."

"Alright, Shepard, you know where to find me."

And with that, Shepard headed up to the bridge. It was time to give the crew some shore leave.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As the Normandy glided into the Citadel's long-term docking bay, Shepard toggled the intercom, making a ship-wide announcement.

"Alright everyone," he said, "we've just come back from quite possibly the most dangerous mission any of you have ever been on. You all performed above and beyond the call, and for that, we're gonna have two days of solid shore leave. All accommodations have been paid for. Take a break, people, you've earned it."

All throughout the ship, Shepard could hear the bulkhead reverberating with the cheers of the crew.

"Nice touch, Shepard, paying for rooms and everything." quipped Joker, "Where'd you get the credits for that?"

"Made a last-minute withdrawal from Cerberus' accounts before we cut the connection to the Illusive Man, courtesy of EDI." said Shepard.

Joker looked a bit shocked by that, then shook his head and grinned to himself. "Do you really want another reason for the Illusive Man to be pissed off at us, Commander?" he asked.

"I'm only doing what he would have done if we'd gone through with the mission his way," replied Shepard, "and he's gonna be pissed off at us anyway. What's another ten or twenty thousand credits?"

"If you say so Commander" said Joker as Shepard headed towards the airlock.

Several people were already at the airlock. Grunt was the most obvious of the bunch, the massive krogan towering over the rest of the crew. Also waiting by the airlock were Jack, Zaeed, as well as Donnelly and Gabby, who Shepard had not once in his time aboard the SR2 seen separated. Then he felt a slender presence beside him. On reflex he put an arm around her shoulders, and looked over to see Tali standing by him. She still had that mask on, but he could tell that she was excited to get back on the Citadel. He heard a little cough behind him, and turned to see Garrus standing there watching them, again with that smirk of his. Shepard shot him another dirty look, but it didn't faze Garrus, so Shepard just ignored him.

Finally, the airlock cycled open, and the crew began to slowly pour out of the ship towards customs. Security looked a bit edgy about all the Cerberus logos the crew was sporting, but once they'd verified Commander Shepard's identity as a Council Spectre, they let them past without a second look. Once they were through, Shepard quickly led them over the Captain Bailey to register them all with C-Sec.

"Alright everyone, your free to do what you want for the next two days. Jack, Grunt, try not to kill anyone."

"Shit," said Jack, "you never let me have any fucking fun."

"There'll be time enough to kill things later, Jack," rumbled Grunt, "Shepard will give us plenty of chances to fight."

"Damn right Grunt," said Shepard, "just not here and not now." To everyone else, he said "Your two days start now people. Dismissed."

As everybody wandered away, Shepard looked over at Tali and said "Well, now that they're gone, what do you want to do?"

"Let's start by getting set up at the room, then we can decide from there." said Tali.

"Alright then, maybe we should go up to the Presidium, take a walk around the lake, maybe go visit Anderson, make sure Council work hasn't gotten to him." said Shepard.

They headed over to the hotel right across from the docking bay, and headed to the desk. The asari waiting the counter looked up, flashing them a quick smile when she saw Shepard's arm around Tali. "Hello sir, ma'am, checking in?" she asked?

Shepard simply said his own name, and the asari immediately handed over the penthouse key. They took the elevator up do the top floor. The room was lavishly furnished and absolutely massive, with a huge one-way mirror overlooking the entire Citadel.

"My cube on the flotilla was maybe a fifth of the size of this room, Shepard." said Tali, "You don't do things by halves, do you."

"Only the best for you. They also added antiseptic fabrics, and the room sterilizes itself when we're not here, so you can go without the mask in here." said Shepard.

"Without the suit, you mean?" teased Tali.

"Well if you insist," said Shepard, with smirk on his face, "I just wouldn't mind seeing that pretty face of yours."

"Such a charmer", said Tali, "But not right now, we should go to the Presidium. Does Anderson know you're coming?"

"I'd be surprised if he didn't figure it out as soon as the Normandy docked." said Shepard. He walked over to Tali and took her hand again. "Let's get going then."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When Shepard and Tali finally reached the Presidium, both of them had to stand in awe for a moment, simply basking in the sight of it. The Presidium had taken heavy damage during Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, but thanks to the efforts of Citadel maintenance, it was hard to tell this part of the Citadel had been attacked at all. At the same time, it disappointed Shepard that the same dedication hadn't been shown to the Wards, where people were still trying to pick up the pieces, even two years after the attack.

"I always like coming up here," said Tali, "but they don't make a habit of allowing Quarians up here. They see us as vagrants."

"Well, we're gonna have to work on that, now aren't we?" said Shepard, who never had been a fan of Quarian discrimination, even before his relationship with Tali had gotten off the ground. When that one Quarian, Lia'Vael, had been falsely accused of theft, then threatened instead of being apologized to, it was all Shepard could do not to shoot the C-Sec officer and the volus who had accused her right there. As a Spectre, he could probably have gotten away with it to, but Tali wouldn't have wanted that, and none of that would have helped anyone. Under the circumstances, Shepard had done the best he could for the poor girl, and just wished he could have helped her more.

"Shepard, you've already done so much for my people, you really don't have to go out of your way to do more." said Tali, "You helped Ken pay off his dept on Omega, helped Lia'Vael deal with that pigheaded C-Sec officer, and now you're trying to help broker a peace between my people and the geth. You are doing all you can to get us back the Homeworld, and you're doing it without firing a shot. Don't beat yourself up if you can't do more."

Shepard sighed, then said "Yeah, I suppose your right. But I just wish I could do more. This kind of intolerance shouldn't still exist. We should be better than this." He shook his head, then changed the subject, "We should head over to Anderson's office now. He'll want to know about the Collectors, and maybe with the data we've found, we might even be able to convince the Council to acknowledge to Reaper threat."

And with that, they set off to the embassies. As they passed through the Presidium, they both stopped and looked at the Conduit.

"I can't believe they left this thing here," said Tali, "as long as it exists, the Reapers can still use it against us."

"It does seems like a big hole in their security, doesn't it?" agreed Shepard, "but at least they're keeping it under close surveillance. I also heard that they've come up with new measures to scramble any incoming transmission, so that should at least help."

"Let's hope that's enough," said Tali.

Finally, they made their way over to the embassy. When they walked in, they found Anderson working on a report. When he heard the doors open, Anderson looked up, gave them a mock serious look, and said "And what took you so long?"

"Good to see you too Anderson," replied Shepard, "and you'd be surprised how touchy C-Sec gets about a dead Spectre bringing a bunch of people with Cerberus logos on their uniform through customs."

"Hmm, I guess that's a reasonable excuse." said Anderson. He finished of his report, then rose, walked over, and shook Shepard's hand. "And it's good to see you too, Shepard. How are things going with Cerberus by the way?"

Shepard returned the handshake with equal enthusiasm, then said "I made a few calls the Illusive Man didn't agree with. He seemed a bit put-off by it."

"So you're not working with them anymore, that's good to hear. The Council was practically foaming at the mouth when they heard you were involved with them. Maybe they can give your Spectre status more official recognition." He seemed to notice Tali for the first time, offering her a hand and adding "And Ms. nar Rayya, how are you? I don't think I've seen you around here since Shepard went missing."

"I'm fine, Councilor Anderson, and it's vas Normandy now," said Tali, shaking the offered had, "And I've been busy worth work for the Flotilla these last few years."

"So, the Normandy is your home ship now?" asked Anderson, "Isn't that a bit..unusual, for a Quarian to be recognized as a crew member on a human ship?"

"It is, but you of all people should know that nothing is simple when Shepard is involved." replied Tali, casually taking Shepard's hand in hers, seemingly without conscious thought.

That made Anderson raise his eyebrows, but then he nodded, looked Shepard in the eyes, and with the barest hint of a smile said "You're right about that. Nothing's simple with Shepard."

"So, what brings the two of you up here, other than to visit an old friend?" asked Anderson.

"We staged our raid on the Collector stronghold three days ago, Anderson" said Shepard.

That got Anderson's immediate attention. He looked a bit shaken by the news. "You're telling me that you went through the Omega 4 relay, destroyed the Collector base, and came out of it in one piece?" He shook his head in disbelief for a moment, then simply said "Shepard, you're a goddamn wrecking ball."

"We managed to gather quite a bit of data from the Collector's databanks." said Shepard, "Enough to prove that the Reaper threat is real. We've even gathered some data on their leader, a Reaper called Harbinger."

Again, Anderson seemed completely shocked at the news. Then he said "Can I see this data?"

Shepard simply handed over the OSD containing the files. Anderson pulled up the files on his terminal. After looking over then in complete silence for 20 minutes, Anderson closed the files and handed the OSD back to Shepard. His expression was grim.

"Well, Shepard, this is all the evidence we'll need to convince the Council that the Reaper threat exists, but I understand why they wouldn't want to believe in this. This is absolutely staggering news. It took the entire Council and Alliance fleets working together to stop Sovereign, and even then we took enormous losses. If the Reapers are as numerous as these reports suggest," he paused and shook his head again, "then I don't know how we can hope to beat them."

"Don't be so sure, Anderson" chimed in Tali, "we managed to dig up quite a few schematics of Reaper weaponry from Collector computers. And Cerberus had been studying a Reaper husk, and managed to find out quite a bit more about them and their weaknesses."

"I hope you're right Tali" said Anderson, his eyes looking almost haunted, "because if we can't find a way to give ourselves an edge over the Reapers, we will lose this war."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Lose the war, Anderson?", asked Shepard. He had never so much as heard Anderson acknowledge defeat as a possibility, much less with such conviction in his voice.

"Without some sort of miracle, Shepard, I don't know how we can." said Anderson. "The fact is, they've been doing this every fifty thousand years since God knows how long ago. Even without factoring in our disadvantages in weaponry, all the various political fighting in Citadel space is going to do just as much damage. Without a united front, the Reapers will have an easy time wiping us out."

"I wouldn't count us out yet, Anderson." said Shepard, "I'm working on building as many alliances as I can to help defeat the Reapers, both in Citadel space and the Terminus Systems. The rachni have agreed to support us, Wrex is working to unite the various krogan clans, the geth will fight with us against a common enemy, and I'm doing what I can to get back the Quarian Homeworld so we can count on the Migrant Fleet when it hits the fan."

Anderson paused for a moment, as if running the figures in his head, then nodded, saying "A united force like that may just give us a chance against the Reapers, and once the Council is made to see reason, they'll work together to help." He paused, then added "Speaking of which, we may as well get that done now."

He rose from his desk, then headed over to the conference terminal at the back of the office. The toggled it on, and called together an emergency meeting of the Council. After a few minutes, the forms of the asari, turian, and salarian councilors appeared at their respective consoles.

As usual, the asari counselor took the lead, immediately calling the meeting to order. "Councilor Anderson, what is your purpose in calling this emergency Council meeting?"

"I apologize to my fellow Council members for making them take the time for this meeting, but this is extremely important." said Anderson, "Commander Shepard has just returned from a raid on the Collector Base through the Omega 4 relay, and has recovered vital information relating to the Reapers."

"You expect us to believe the Commander actually went through to Omega 4 relay and came back?" demanded, unsurprisingly, the turian Councilor, "And why are we still talking about Reapers? They're a myth, they don't exist."

Feeling an immense sense of satisfaction in doing so, Shepard approached the terminal, looked the turian Councilor right in the eyes, and said "Sorry I have to shatter your little dream world, Councilor, but it's time for you to face the truth." He then loaded the OSD into the terminal, transmitting the data to all three of the Council members.

They all paused and scanned over the documents, then stopped and read over them again, more slowly. Shepard would remember wiping that smug expression off the turian Councilors face for as long as he lived. The turian's jaw was actually hanging open by the time he had finished reading through the documents a second time.

The salarian Councilor was the first to speak, saying "This...can't be right. There's no way this can be accurate." He pause, then looked up at Shepard, "You say you obtained these file from the Collector's base?"

"Yes I did" said Shepard, "and you'll also notice in my report our findings on the origins of the Collectors.. They were once Protheans, but they received extensive genetic rewriting from the Reapers."

The asari Councilor had finally finished her second pass, "So now we know what happened to them. All this time, we were wrong." She looked at Anderson, then Shepard, and said "You were right. We were wrong to doubt you Commander, Councilor."

"Let's not be too hasty handing out congratulations, Councilor." The turian Councilor had finally regained his composure, and had reverted to his arbitrarily contrary self, "I'm seeing in your report that you decided to destroy the base, and everything in it, despite having a chance to save it. Do you have any idea what that technology would have done to help us against the Reapers? By destroying that base, Shepard, you may have destroyed any hope we had of survival!"

Shepard just stood there, and favored the Councilor with the expression people normally associated with him judging the range of a target, then said "In order to get through the Omega 4 relay, we had to use a Reaper IFF beacon. That one beacon, on its own, almost cost my entire crew their lives. And you want us to base our defense of our entire galaxy on Reaper technology infinitely more complex than an IFF beacon? If we had used the technology on that base, we may as well have handed to Reapers a diagram of exactly where to hit us to kill us quickly, Councilor."

That shut the turian Councilor up immediately, and after a bit of nervous fidgeting, nodded slightly in concession, and only slightly grudgingly said "You may have a point, Commander."

Shepard nodded back, then addressed the Council as whole. "Now that you have the data, we need to set aside our differences. Without a united front, we'll be easy pickings for the Reapers. Included in the files are a number of weapons schematics that may be useful against them. I'm going back out to the Terminus Systems to rally everyone I can to help fight the Reapers."

"Good luck, Commander" said the asari Councilor, "We will do what we can here. This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

With that, the images of the Councilors turned away from the consoles and faded away. Anderson turned to Shepard, and said "Well, that's the easy part out of the way. We'd better get to work preparing. Did you notice anything in the report that would give us an idea of when to expect the Reapers?"

"I didn't pick anything out," said Shepard with a shrug, "not that it changes anything anyway. Time's wasting."

"You've got that right Shepard." said Anderson. "Well, I'd better get to work on this. I need to contact the Alliance heads, get the shipyards going. Good luck, Shepard."

"You too, Anderson." said Shepard, shaking Anderson's hand one more time before turning and leaving the office.

As they walked to the elevator, Tali looked over at Shepard and said "You really tore into the turian Councilor."

Shepard looked over to her and said "I didn't have time to let his spout of all his garbage. It's not going to help things at all." He flashed her a quick grin, then added "Besides, I thought you liked watching me shout."

That got a giggle out of her, then she lowered her voice and said "I think that's enough excitement for now, maybe we should head back."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea at all. I think we could both use some time to unwind.' said Shepard, sliding an arm around her waist.

She twitched a little in response to that, then dropped her voice another few levels and said "That sounds wonderful."

As the elevator doors closed behind them and the elevator began his descent, Shepard suddenly got the feeling that he needed to enjoy these moments while he could. The days ahead looked awfully bleak.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day passed in a blur. Shepard had never been happier. He and Tali spent every waking hour together, running all over the Citadel, occasionally visiting clubs. Tali had always liked clubs, they reminded her of life on the Flotilla. The days usually culminated in long, passionate nights back at their room. Tali's immune system had improved immensely, most of the time she didn't even get sick anymore.

Eventually, though, their time on the Citadel had to come to an end. As they left their room for the last time, making their way back to the docking bay, Shepard knew that his peace was most likely at an end, until he was dead or the Reapers were defeated. He didn't voice this belief, though. Tali didn't need thoughts like that weighing on her mind. She had suffered enough doubt and loss over the years.

When they finally boarded the Normandy, Shepard was unsurprised to see that everyone else was already aboard. However, the tension on board was much higher than he would have though. As soon as the airlock cycled open, Kelly immediately walked over, lowered her voice, and said "Shepard, we're receiving a message from the Illusive Man."

Shepard felt Tali tense up a little at that. He took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and said "Well, I guess it was only a matter of time. I assume the call is going through to the briefing room, Kelly."

Kelly nodded, saying "Yes, Commander. You should probably get over there."

"I'm not his dog, Kelly. But I'll see what he has to say." said Shepard. He looked over at Tali, adding "I'll see you later, Tali."

She nodded, saying "Alright, Shepard. Be careful." and then headed over to the elevator.

Shepard headed back to the debriefing room, then toggled the comm panel. The table sank into the floor, and Shepard stepped on top of it. The lights dimmed and the scanner immediately began to upload his images to the Illusive Man.

The view panels on the walls powered on, showing a panoramic image of the Illusive Man's office. For a terrorist, the Illusive Man sure knew how to impress, with a breathtaking view of a nearby star. The Illusive Man himself was, as usual, sitting in his chair, lit cigarette in hand. He fixed his mechanical eyes on Shepard, took another drag on his cigarettes, and started speaking.

"Shepard, despite our past disagreements, I want you to know that I am still open to cooperating with you. Even though I don't approve of your actions, and I know you don't approve of me, we still need to work together if we want to defeat the Reapers."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't take your word for it." said Shepard, "Even when you were completely on my side, you 'help' had a habit of almost getting me killed."

"You of all people should know that sometimes you need to take some chances to get a payoff, Shepard." said the Illusive Man, "I did what I had to do to end the Collector threat, and I won't apologize for it. What matters now is that we do what we can to prepare against the Reapers with what we have." He took another drag on his cigarette, then continued, "I understand you've already contacted the Council and given them proof of the Reaper threat. That's good, we'll need their resources for this fight."

"How did you know about that?" demanded Shepard.

"Shepard, in the last two days every major shipyard has been working overtime, building new ships. Alliance weapons labs are working on weapons projects far beyond their previous design concepts. Recruiting and training efforts by every Council race have been kicked onto high gear. And all this began not three hours after your ship docked on the Citadel. There are very few other things that could cause this much activity."

"Suppose I believe you," said Shepard, "that still doesn't explain why you want to help me. I destroyed the Collector base that you wanted kept intact. I told you to go to hell. So if you're offering to help me, you'll understand if I'm suspicious."

The Illusive Man looked Shepard in the eyes again and said "Shepard, despite what I may think of you personally, you are still the best hope we have to unite the various Council and Terminus factions. You are still our best hope of surviving the Reapers. And you and your ship still represent a significant investment for Cerberus." He took another hit of his cigarette, then extinguished it, adding "And you may have had a point about the technology of the Collector base. It's possible that using that technology would have been too great a risk."

That got Shepard's eyebrows up. "Wait, so you're agreeing with me? You're saying that I was right and you were wrong? I should've brought Jack up here, she would've loved to hear that."

"Don't be immature, Shepard." said the Illusive Man, "I still feel that there was definitely something to be gained from researching that base. I'm just acknowledging that the risks existed as well. I still don't agree with your decision, but I understand why you did it."

"Well, if we can just put this behind us, we can focus on the real problem." said Shepard.

The Illusive Man pulled out and lit another cigarette, took a drag, and said "That's another reason I contacted you. I plan to contact the Council myself, to offer any support that I can."

"Isn't that a bit risky for you, contacting the Council personally?" asked Shepard, "I doubt they'd be happy accepting help from Cerberus, considering your history."

"I'm sure they'll see the value of cooperation, at least until the Reaper threat is past." replied the Illusive Man. "Besides, it's not like anyone can afford to refuse help against the Reapers, no matter where it comes from. What are you planning to do next, Shepard?"

"The Council is onboard, but we still need the Terminus Systems to pitch in." replied Shepard, "The geth seem willing to stand with us against the Reapers. They're as much a threat to the geth as they are to organics. I'm also going to see what I can do to enlist the Migrant Fleet."

The Illusive Man nodded, "Excellent plan Shepard. Cerberus has several cells in the Terminus System, I'm forwarding their locations to the Normandy now. They'll have orders to assist you however they can."

Shepard nodded back, saying "I'll take all the help I can get. But let's be clear, I don't work for Cerberus anymore. I'll work with you, but I still don't trust you."

The Illusive Man took one final drag on his cigarette, extinguished it, and said "I understand, Shepard. For what it's worth, good luck."

Then he pressed a control on his chair, terminating the connection.

Shepard stepped off the conference table and left the room wondering whether he should be more worried about the Reapers or his allies.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As the Normandy drifted out of the Citadel docking ring and made its way toward the mass relay, Shepard emerged from the debriefing room and returned to the CIC. As soon as he stepped into the room, he felt all eyes immediately focus on him.

"All right people, we're heading back out to the Terminus Systems. We've got an army to build."

One of the crewmen piped in, "What about the Illusive Man?"

"He seems willing to play nice for now," said Shepard, "he's pledging assistance to us and to the Council to help fight the Reapers. He isn't the real problem, though. That would be the Reapers."

The crew looked relieved to know that the Illusive Man wasn't after them. Shepard was certain the Illusive Man could be absolutely ruthless when he had to, especially when dealing with rogue elements, and the crew had undoubtedly been expecting an attack for the last few days.

"Any particular place in mind, Commander?" asked Joker over the intercom.

"Omega seems like as good a place as any, don't you think Joker?" replied Shepard.

"Aye aye Commander, setting course for Omega, ETA 12 hours." said Joker.

Shepard nodded then addressed the room at large, "I'll be touring the ship if anyone needs to find me."

And with that, he got into the elevator and headed down to engineering. When the elevator doors opened, Tali was waiting for him, and she didn't look happy.

"I guess you heard that were still working with Cerberus, then?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, I have." she replied, "And I'm still trying to understand why you still want to cooperate with them after all they've done."

Shepard shook his head, then said "Tali, trust me on this, I don't like working with the Illusive Man any more then you do. But we're going to need all the help we can get against the Reapers. Whatever you think about Cerberus, the Illusive Man isn't an idiot. He knows that the Reapers can't be negotiated with, they can't be reasoned with, and they don't take prisoners. He knows that anything less than total cooperation will kill us. If you don't believe in his selfless motives, believe in his self-interest."

"And what about after that Shepard?" asked Tali, "What happens when we defeat the Reapers?"

"We'll worry about that when that happens, Tali. We can't afford to worry about them right now. The Reaper's are our main concern."

Tali paused for a little bit, looking down and wringing her hands, then she looked up at Shepard and said "Alright Shepard. I still don't trust them, but I'll trust you."

He gave her a quick hug, then stepped away. "I need to get back to work Tali, we can talk later."

"Alright Shepard. I'll see you later." said Tali as she headed back to her usual spot by the drive core.

Shepard watched her go, then shook his head and headed off to Starboard Cargo.

Zaeed was at his usual spot, this time working on that crappy old rifle he always insisted on toting around. Shepard could understand keeping something for sentimental reason, or at least he could if it were anyone other than Zaeed. From what he knew of the man's past, Shepard knew that Zaeed was a man of ruthless, even frightening practicality. When they had tracked his former partner and co-founder of the Blue Suns mercenary group, Vido Santiago, to a captured refinery on Zorya, Zaeed had been willing to sacrifice the entire refinery, and all the people inside, just to obtain his objective. It was a mindset that Shepard felt bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Saren.

Shepard had gone against his plan, of course, allowing Vido to escape in order to save the refinery and the civilians inside. Zaeed had flown into a rage the likes of which Shepard had never seen, and for a moment Shepard had believed that Zaeed was going to attack him. In the end, Shepard had managed to bring Zaeed around to his way of thinking. Zaeed hadn't been happy with the outcome of the mission, but he had trusted Shepard enough to follow his lead and performed his task on the Collector base with flawless execution.

Seeing Shepard enter the room, Zaeed carefully set the rifle down on the table, wiped his hands off on a rag, and nodded. "Shepard, what brings you down here?"

"Just thought I'd get your take on this whole Cerberus situation." replied Shepard. "I get the feeling you've had some experience with them."

Zaeed nodded again, then got off the crate he was using as a bench and moved over to his usual spot leaning on the wall. "You could say that. I've done some work for them before, never anything straight from the top though. I'll say this though, they don't kill useful employees just because the job is done. As long as you're alive, you're a possible tool." He thought is over for a moment, then added "And that's just for your average mercenary. That's not even counting the credits they pumped into you to bring you back."

"That's the sense I got from the Illusive Man myself," agreed Shepard. "He's a terrorist, but he's also a businessman, he's the kind to just throw credits down a hole. Also, since we're heading back out to Terminus, are there any groups out there who we can bring over to the cause?"

Zaeed considered that for a moment. "If we can bring the merc groups out there over to our side, that'll get us some serious firepower." He paused, a flicker of bitterness in his expression for a moment, "Of course, Vido is going to cause some problems."

"Have you had any luck locating him again?" asked Shepard. "If he's gonna be a problem, I can get some of Cerberus' cells put out feelers for him. He can't hide forever."

"He's a rat, Shepard. He's gonna be very tough to find." said Zaeed. "Though having more people looking may help. It took me twenty years to find him on my own."

"I'll put the word out to Cerberus, get them on that." said Shepard, turning to leave.

"Shepard" said Zaeed, "what if he's using civilians as shields again? You gonna let him go?"

Shepard turned back, saying "As long as we don't set another factory on fire again, we shouldn't have a problem with that. He won't get away twice."

Zaeed didn't look entirely happy with that answer, but he appeared to accept it. "Alright, Shepard. I'll let you know if I come up with anything else."

"See you, Zaeed." said Shepard.

While he was down in engineering, Shepard decided he should also check in with Grunt. The tank-bred krogan was still an unknown quantity, though he appeared to have settled in under Shepard's command after his Rite of Passage. Apparently any human who could take out a thresher maw on foot was a good leader in Grunt's book.

As Shepard walked into the room, he spotted Grunt waiting in his usual spot by his tank.

"Shepard" was Grunt's usual terse greeting. Grunt wasn't one to use words unnecessarily.

"Just thought I'd check in to see how you're doing, Grunt." said Shepard.

"Still working through tank imprints, still trying to find a reason to care about all them." said Grunt. "I'm glad we're heading back out into the Terminus Systems. Lots of things to kill there."

"I guess Council Space wasn't exciting enough for you, then." said Shepard.

"I found a few fighting rings, tore everyone who challenged me apart." said Grunt, "But it's not the same, Shepard. I need a gun in my hands, I wanna be able to kill things."

"Don't worry, once the Reapers finally show up, you'll have plenty of things to kill." said Shepard.

"Excellent. This is why I follow you Shepard." said Grunt.

Shepard nodded, saying "I'll see you later, Grunt." turning to leave.

"Shepard." said Grunt. That always made Shepard smile to himself a little. It reminded him of his talks with Wrex.

With nothing else that needed tending to, Shepard got into the elevator and headed back up to his cabin, hoping to finish off some paperwork and catch some shut-eye before they arrived at Omega.

He opened the door to his cabin to find Tali waiting for him on his desk, her mask already off.

On second thought, all that could wait.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A few hours later, Shepard was lying on his bed, his arms around Tali's shoulders and her arm across his chest. She was out of her suit now, quite possibly for the longest time she had ever been since she got it. Not that Shepard could complain, of course.

It was while they were lying in each other's arms the there came a knock on the cabin doors and a synthesized "Shepard Commander."

The interruption pissed Shepard off quite a bit for a variety of reasons, but since the geth had never purposefully come up to Shepard's cabin to discuss anything, he knew that it had to be important. By the time he'd come to this realization, Tali was already out of bed and halfway finished putting her suit back on. Shepard got up, got dressed, and then padded over to the cabin door and disengaged the lock.

Legion was waiting right outside the door. Looking into the room, all of its head flaps flared forward in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of a human gesture of shock. "We apologize for any interruption, Shepard Commander."

Shepard rubbed his eyes for a moment, wondering vaguely to himself how much Legion understood of what it was interrupting, then looked back up at it, saying "Don't worry about it Legion. What is it?"

"We have important information for Creator Tali'Zorah and were informed that she was here."

That immediately got Shepard's attention. The last time Tali and Legion had had anything vaguely resembling a conversation had been when Tali had nearly put a bullet through Legion for scanning her omni-tool data and attempting to forward it back to the main body of the geth. He had managed to shut that particular conflict down, and since then Tali had gradually accepted if not warmed to the fact that Legion was on the squad, but he was still wary about the two of them being near each other, given Tali's ancestry and experiences with the geth.

By now Tali had finally finished getting her suit back in order and turned to look at Legion. From her stance Shepard could tell that she wished she had her weapons on her.

"What is it Legion?"

"We have information regarding the Creator Homeworld.", replied Legion, "We felt it necessary to bring this to Creator attention."

Tali cocked her head to one side, folded her arms, and said "I'm listening."

Legion continued, "We have nearly completed our task of restoring the Creator Homeworld. The majority of environmental damage has been repaired and most hazards have been neutralized. We conclude that Creator Homeworld should be completely habitable within a standard month."

Tali was completely silent for a few moments, and Shepard could practically see her shock clear through the mask. Then she said "You've been keeping the Homeworld safe? After all the fighting?"

Legion tilted its head to one side, tilting the flaps on the left side of its head forward in a gesture resembling a human cocking an eyebrow. "Geth have never fought Creators except to preserve their existence. We do not hate the Creators for what they have done, we simply cannot understand them."

"But where have the geth been living all this time?" asked Tali.

"We occupy orbital stations and strip mine passing asteroids." replied Legion, "It is quite efficient."

Tali looked over to Shepard and said "The Admiralty Board needs to hear about this. They need to know that we don't need to fight the geth."

Shepard considered that for a moment, then said "We'll go Tali, but I'm not sure all the Admirals are going to agree to peace with the geth. Zaal'Koris will probably be tripping over himself to make peace with the geth, and your aunt may warm to the idea, but I'm not sure about Han'Gerrel and I have a bad feeling about Daro'Xen." He paused, then added "And we still don't know anything about who they replaced your father with."

Tali mulled that over for a time. She didn't like talking about the infighting on the Admiralty Board. Shepard couldn't blame her though, the last time the Admirals had an argument she had nearly been exiled from the Migrant Fleet and had had to nearly get herself killed in order to clear herself. The issue of her father was another thing she didn't like to talk about. Though the fleet remembered Admiral Rael'Zorah as a man who put the fleet above everything, unfortunately including his family, Shepard and Tali both knew that he had risked the fleets safety by performing a series of extremely high-risk experiments.

His research had backfired, and Tali and Shepard had had to go clean it up, but at Tali's request, Shepard had withheld the particulars of what Rael had been doing. It hadn't sat well with him, and it had been a terrible risk to take with Tali's trial, but Shepard had gone along with it, still managing to get Tali acquitted of all charges. Shepard had also tried to avert a Quarian conflict with the Geth, but the infighting among the Admirals had meant that his advice had likely fallen on a lot of deaf ears.

"I don't think they've been able to fill my father's spot on the Board yet," said Tali, "it's only been a few days, it usually takes a few weeks for the other Admirals to decide on a candidate, and the geth issue will only make things take longer." She shook her head, then continued, "As for how the Board will handle the news, we can worry about that when we get there. I don't think Han'Gerrel will be a problem. He may have agreed with my father about taking the fight to the geth, but in the end he just wants to take back the Homeworld. Xen could be a problem, but she's only one Admiral. As long as the other Admirals come over to our side, she shouldn't have any other choice than to play along."

Shepard nodded, saying "I'll have Joker set a course for the Flotilla as soon as you find out where they are."

Tali nodded, then looked over at Legion and said, "Thank you for telling me this, Legion."

Legion's head flaps rippled almost nervously for a moment, then said, "This platform does not require thanks, Creator Tali'Zorah. We only reported what we were sent to report." And with that it headed back to the elevator back down to the crew deck and AI core.

Tali looked over at Shepard, then took her mask off again and Shepard could see the excitement in her eyes. "This could be it Shepard. After 300 years, my people can finally go home."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

As it turned out, they didn't have to look very far to find the fleet. They were still right where they had been during Tali's trial. Tali and Shepard joined Joker in the cockpit.

As they neared the fleet, they were almost immediately challenged by the Flotillas security patrols.

"Identify yourself." came the voice over the radio.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya." said Tali.

"Our computers have your ship flagged as Cerberus, please verify." came the voice again.

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began.", said Tali.

"Permission granted. Welcome home Tali'Zorah."

"We'd like a security and quarantine team to meets us. Our ship is not clean." said Tali.

"Understood. Approach exterior docking cradle 17." said the voice before terminating the connection.

As the Normandy drifted toward the Rayya's docking ramp, Joker looked over at Tali and asked, "Do you ever change your passwords in this fleet. And you sound like you're reading from a script."

"We pick these responses before we leave on our Pilgrimage, and we keep them all our lives. And these security measures are a matter of tradition as well as protocol." said Tali.

By the time the airlock seals had been secured, Tali, Shepard, and Legion were already waiting to go.

Once the airlock doors opened, the guards outside started walking forward to greet them, then immediately stopped upon seeing Legion. Hardly a surprising reaction, given that so few quarians had actually seen a geth up close, but at least this time they didn't point any guns at them.

As before, Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya was there to greet them. He seemed equal parts happy to see Tali and nervous about Legion. Shepard had brought Legion to Tali's trial, so it wasn't the first time that the Captain had seen Legion, but he'd never seemed at ease having an active geth aboard the ship.

"Tali," he said, "it's good to see you're still alright. What is the meaning of this meeting."

"It's good to see you too Captain," replied Tali, "And I'm sorry, but I can't tell you right now. You'll find out soon enough."

Without seeing his face, Shepard couldn't be sure, but he could tell that the Captain wasn't happy with that answer, but he accepted it. "Alright, then. The Board is waiting for you in the Garden Plaza. You know the way."

"Alright Captain." said Tali, then, looking over at Shepard, "We should probably get over there, Shepard."

Shepard nodded, then they began to make their way over to the plaza. On the way they gathered no shortage of sideways glances due to Legion's presence, but nobody made any comments.

As when they had arrived for Tali's trial, the plaza was packed with people. Tali had told Shepard that quarians were a very social people, and he could see that by how the average quarian was allowed to sit in on pretty much any gathering on the ship, which apparently included meetings of the Admiralty Board.

The Admirals were one their usual platforms, milling around as they waited for Shepard to arrive. Tali's aunt Shala was the first to notice them, and she immediately took charge of the meeting, waving all the onlookers to their seats. As Shepard's team approached the podium, the rest of the Admirals stood at attention as well, at which point Shala opened the meeting with what Shepard assumed was the usual opener.

"This Conclave is brought to order. Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai." echoed the room.

At this point, Han'Gerrel took the lead. "And what is the meaning of this meeting, Tali'Zorah?"

Tali stepped forward, then nodded at Legion and said "This geth platform has information that could be extremely important for the Flotilla."

Everyone in the room sucked in a breath at that. Since they had driven the quarians from their home, the geth had often help the position of shadowy threat in the minds of most quarians. Everyone in the room probably assumed that the announcement was a declaration of total war by the geth.

After a moment, Gerrel nodded at Legion and said "What does this platform have to say?"

Legion stepped forward and began.

"We are Legion, a terminal of the geth. We have a message for the Creators. We wish to cease further violence against the creators and return their Homeworld to them."

The entire room went completely silent at that. Everyone who wasn't already focus on Legion immediately did so now. Shepard couldn't blame them. Most quarians had probably agreed by now that the only way they were going to get their world back from the geth was to fight them for it, which was a daunting proposition to say the least.

Daro'Xen was the first Admiral to recover. "And how can we be sure that this isn't a trap? How can we be sure that the geth aren't just trying to wipe is all out?"

Legion favored the Admiral with his approximation of a cocked eyebrow, and said "We are not programmed for dishonesty, and have never attacked the Creators except in self-defence."

"Then how do you explain the attacks by geth on Council space two years ago?" demanded Han'Gerrel.

"The geth who attacked Council were not geth. They were heretic platforms." replied Legion, "They worshipped the Old Machines. We believe that organic life should self-determinate. We have no hate for the Creators or other organics."

Han'Gerrel still didn't seem ready to accept it, changing tactic. "What about these heretic platforms? They could still pose a threat to us."

"Shepard Commander released a virus to rewrite the heretic platforms to accept our conclusions. They no longer pose a threat." replied Legion.

At this point, Zaal'Koris jumped in. "What have the geth been doing with the Homeworld this whole time then?"

"We do not occupy the Homeworld. We occupy orbital stations. The only geth presence on the Homeworld exists to undo the damage from the Morning War. We have also agreed to support Shepard Commander against the Old Machines."

The Admirals were quiet for a moment, then Shala finally entered the conversation. "This Conclave will take a brief recess to discuss the facts you have brought to us, Legion."

With that, the Admirals turned to each other to discuss what Legion had told them. At the same time, the other quarians in the plaza began discussing what had been said, mostly in excited tones.

As Shepard and the others waited for the Conclave to resume, Shepard noticed a familiar suited quarian waving to them in the crowd. He nudged Tali with his elbow to get her attention, then nodded over at the quarian and began moving over to him.

"Kal," said Shepard, extending a hand to the quarian Marine, "how've you been?"

"Shepard," said Kal, shaking the offered hand, "not too bad, just a few more missions escorting techies to get more sun data." He nodded at Tali, "Good to see you're still alright, ma'am."

"Kal, how many times have I asked you to just call me Tali?" said Tali in the mock-annoyed tone she always used when discussing Kal's formality.

"About a hundred, ma'am," said Kal, "still working on it." He paused, then changed subjects, "So, the geth are going to give us the Homeworld back. That's surprising, considering all we did to them."

"We do not feel any anger for Creators, we simply cannot understand them." chimed Legion.

Kal regarded the geth for a moment, then nodded at it, as if conceding the point, then addressed Legion directly "If you're serious about this, this is gonna avert a whole mess of a war."

"Continued aggression with Creators is undesirable. We must prepare for the arrival of the Old Machines" said Legion with an air of agreement to its synthesized voice.

Kal suddenly looked back to the podium and gestured, saying "It looks like the Board is ready to continue. I'll talk to you later Shepard, ma'am."

Shepard headed back to the podium with Legion and Tali in tow.

Shala took the lead again. "After much deliberation, we have decided to postpone a decision on this matter until it can be verified that the Homeworld has been vacated by the geth and is prepared for habitation."

Legion stepped up and said "We will inform the Fleet when we have achieved consensus that the Homeworld is prepared", then stepped back behind Shepard.

Shala inclined her head to the geth, then addressed the room, "This Conclave is concluded. Go forth in peace. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai" echoed the room again.

As the assembled quarians began to clear the room, Shepard decided it would be a good idea to talk to the Admirals individually, if only to get a feel where the wind was blowing. After another moments deliberation, he decided to start with Zaal'Koris, who had always been pushing for peace with the geth.

He made his way over to the Admiral, who was talking to Han'Gerrel at the moment. As soon as Shepard got within a few feet of them, they stopped their conversation and turned to face him.

Admiral Koris inclined his head to Shepard and said "Commander, I suppose I should be thanking you for presenting us a solution to all this debating over the issue of the Homeworld."

"I'll believe it when I see the Homeworld with my own eyes." said Admiral Gerrel, "But I admit, it would be nice to get back the Homeworld without fighting."

"I hope you can take Legions word for it," said Shepard, "We don't need to be fighting each other anymore. The Reapers are coming, and I'm going to need your help to stop them."

"You've certainly earned that much from us, Shepard," said Gerrel, "and now we'll have a place to keep out noncombatants while the war is going on."

"I'm glad to hear it" said Shepard. "I should go. When Legion tells me that the Homeworld is ready, I'll pass word on to you."

"Alright, Shepard" said Koris, "Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai, Shepard" said Gerrel.

That left Daro'Xen and Shal'Raan to talk to. Shepard inclined his head to the Admirals and left them to their conversations. He figured he might as well inflict Xen on himself first. Xen made him a bit nervous, and her opinion of the geth wasn't a particularly helpful one. But as he made his he looked around the room, he noticed that Xen had already left.

Slightly relieved at having avoided that particular encounter, Shepard made his way over to Admiral Raan. She looked over at him and the others, then inclined her head to Shepard.

"Commander, you've given our entire people hope that they'll be able to see the Homeworld for themselves. I don't know how I can thank you for that."

Shepard raised a hand, palm out, and said "I didn't do this for the recognition, I did this for your people and Legions. A war between the quarians and the geth wouldn't benefit either of you, and we're going to need all the help we can get against the Reapers."

"That is true Commander." replied Shala, then to Tali said "Tali, would you mind if I had a word with the Commander for a moment?"

Tali nodded and said "Alright. Shepard, I'll be talking to Captain Kar'Danna."

"Take Legion with you." said Shepard, "And try not to let anyone attack it."

Tali nodded and turned to head back to the Normandy, Legion in tow. As soon as she was out of earshot, Shala looked Shepard in the eyes and tapped the side of her helmet. Shepard got the hint immediately and disengaged his helmets external speakers, switching over to suit radio.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about, Admiral?" asked Shepard, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

"I've known Tali for her entire life." said Shala, "I was there when she was born. I helped her mother make her fist suit and was there when her mother gave it to her. When her mother died and her father wasn't there, I was. I can tell when she's excited about something, and she's never quite acted rationally when she's excited. So I will ask you one question: How far has this gone?"

Shepard was surprised by the fire in her voice. He had never heard Shala speak with such passion before. He immediately understood her concerns and was determined to address them. He also realized that the Admiral would probably be a very scary person to cross, as protective of Tali as she was.

"Tali has shown me her face." he began. "We've been together for the last few days, and I care deeply about her. Believe me when I say I'm taking every measure I can to keep her safe and would never risk her health for a second if I didn't feel just as strongly about her as she does about me."

Shala was quiet for several shocked seconds, then said "She showed you her face. She took off her helmet for you? That's-" she paused for another second, trying to order he thoughts, then continued, "I hope you understand the risks she's taking to be with you. I hope you understand how much she must care about you if she took that risk."

She paused again, then added "And I hope you understand that if you ever hurt her, I will come after you."

Shepard nodded gravely, impressed with her passion, and said "Understood, ma'am."

Shala held Shepard's gaze for a few more moments, then visibly relaxed. "I am glad to see that you make Tali so happy. She's had little enough to be happy about these last few years, losing many of her friends on these missions, the trial, her father."

"She was very sad about your loss on your old ship two years ago." she continued, "For the longest time I almost had to force her to eat, to sleep, and she cried almost every day. But when she came back from her mission to recover Veetor, she was happier than I've ever seen her." She paused again, and under her mask, Shepard got the impression that she was smiling. "I wish you both the best."

"Thank you, Shala," said Shepard, "I'll look after her, you have my word."

"See to it that you do." replied Shala, "Keelah se'lai."

With that, Shepard headed back to the airlock, gathering yet another series of glances, but this time they all had an air of excitement to them. He saw Tali having a conversation with the Captain and headed over to her.

"Well Commander," said Captain Kar'Danna, "when you say you've got big news, you really mean it." He shook his head and said "After all this time, we're finally going to get the Homeworld back."

"I'm glad to be able to bring some hope to your people Captain." then to Tali said, "We need to get going."

"Alright, Shepard." said Tali, "Goodbye, Captain."

"Goodbye Tali, Shepard, Keelah se'lai." said the Captain.

"Keelah se'lai." replied Tali.

At that, they boarded the Normandy, detached from the Rayya, and headed back out into space.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

As the Normandy drifted through space with no clear destination in mind, Shepard thought that a few hours of sleep would help him decide on his next course of action

Tali had other ideas.

Shepard couldn't honestly argue with the direction of her thinking.

Afterward, they lay on the bed together in each others' arms, lightly dozing off the time. Then Tali nuzzled up a little closer to Shepard, lazily opened one eye, and asked "So what did you and Auntie Raan talk about?"

Shepard regarded her obliquely with one eye, then hugged her a bit tighter. "She wanted to know what you and I were up to. All in all, it was a good talk."

"Keelah" said Tali "I hope she wasn't too rough with you. She can be a little overprotective of me at time." She paused, then continued, "I guess she feels like she has to since my mother isn't around."

"You never talk much about your mother." said Shepard, turning fully to face her at this point, "I know your father wasn't around that much, always working on helping the flotilla, but your mother had to be with you most of the time."

Tali shivered a little bit, then began.

"My mother was a beautiful woman. She was dedicated to the fleet, of course, every quarian is. But she always had time for me, if I wanted to talk, or to help me with something. She taught a lot of what I know about working with machinery."

"Sounds like a bright woman, and judging by you she must have been stunning." said Shepard.

That drew a smile out of Tali and earned Shepard a small jab in the ribs. "You sweet-talker." she said. Then the smile faded a little, and she went on from her story.

"It was hard, when she died. My father wasn't always around to help me through it, but Shala always was." She looked up at Shepard, then added, "Just like she was when you died."

"You don't talk much about what happened to her." said Shepard.

"There isn't that much to tell really. There was an outbreak of sickness on our ship, and she was already too far gone by the time help finally came." Tali sounded calm, but her eyes were shining with tears. "I wanted to be with her as much as I could, be she told me to stay away for my own safety." By this point, the tears were running down her face. Some women could cry and make it look beautiful, and Tali was one of them, but Shepard never liked seeing that look on her face.

Shepard didn't say anything else, he just hugged Tali closer to him, and she stuck her face into the hollow of his neck. Shepard could still feel her tears on his neck, and her shoulders shook with silent sobs. It took several minutes for her to get control over herself, but when she did, she left her head on Shepard's shoulder for another minute, and expression of silent gratitude. Shepard also got the feeling that she was letting out some of her feelings about her father, since there hadn't been much time for that on the Alarei or in the days since then.

After another minute, Tali took her head off of Shepard's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Thank you Shepard. It feels good to talk about it with someone who cares."

"Tali, you don't need to thank me." said Shepard, "I brought it up, and even if I didn't, I always have time if you need to talk."

Tali laid her head on his chest and said, "all the same, thank you."

They stayed that way for a while longer, both utterly content.

Which, of course, meant that it couldn't last.

"Commander," came Joker's voice over the intercom, "you may wanna get down to Engineering, Miranda and Jack are having a bit of a scuffle."

Shepard let out an explosive sigh, then replied "Copy that Joker, I'll take care of it." He looked over at Tali. "Can't those two just talk about their problems?"

"I guess not," said Tali.

"I'll be right back" said Shepard, "I'd better get down there before they rip out a bulkhead."

"Hurry back," said Tali with a sleepy smile.

Shepard gave her a quick kiss, then got out of bed, got his uniform back on, and headed for the elevator.

By the time the floor counter had reached deck three, Shepard started hearing muffle thudding noises. By the time he reached Engineering, he could finally hear Jack yelling a massive stream of expletives at Miranda. Luckily for the Normandy, this time their argument was going on in the main hanger. If the biotics that Jack was slinging around had been used in a more enclosed space, the ship would probably have been ripped apart from the inside by now.

Unsurprisingly, Grunt was watching from the sidelines. The krogan could never resist watching any kind of fight any more that he could resist starting a fight. Shepard stepped up next to the big krogan for a moment before involving himself in the fight.

"What did I miss?" asked Shepard.

"You've been missing some good stuff, Shepard." replied Grunt. "It started off with a bit of yelling, then Jack started throwing crates at Miranda, and now I think she's getting ready to pitch the shuttle at her."

Shepard winced a little at the thought. "We haven't spent the last few days fixing this bay up just so those two can rip it up again."

"Shepard," rumbled Grunt, "You should never break up a good fight."

"Noted." said Shepard. Then he wandered into the fray.

Miranda, Jack stand down!" yelled Shepard. Both of them almost immediately stopped at the pure authority in Shepard's voice. He glanced at both of them in turn, then asked in a more quiet, even tone "And why the hell do the two of you feel the need to tear up my ship this time?"

"Nothing much, Shepard, just having a conversation with the cheerleader here." said Jack with her usual disregard for authority. Jack had always had issues with Miranda ever since Shepard and his team had sprung her from the Purgatory prison ship, and even going through the assault on the Collector base together hadn't done much to ease those sentiments.

Shepard regarded her for another moment, then shifted his gaze to Miranda. "Would you care to explain what's happening here?"

"I was checking in on the repairs for my report when she came storming in here talking about having a 'score to settle'. She still seems to think what happened to her in the past was my fault and she seems determined to get back at me for it."

Shepard nodded at that, then addressed both of them. "I know you don't like each other. Jack, you blame Miranda for what happened to you. Miranda, you see Jack as impulsive and threatening to the team. You need to set all that aside. I don't need you to like each other, I just need you to do your jobs." He paused, then added, "And if you can try not to completely destroy my ship, I'd appreciate that as well."

Shepard looked at the two of them again, then said. "I trust this won't happen again. Clear?"

Understood, Commander." said Miranda.

"Yeah, whatever." said Jack. "This cheerleader aint worth my time anyway."

And with that, both of them walked out of the hanger, Miranda heading back up to her office, Jack to her hidey-hole in the storage area of the ship.

Shepard surveyed the cargo bay for a few more moments, satisfied that no significant damage had been done, then turned to leave. On his way out, Grunt looked at him and said "I hate it when a good fight gets called off, but you could talk your way out of a thresher maw."

Shepard nodded in response, then headed back up to his cabin. Tali was almost exactly where he had left her, but she sat up when he walked into the room. "How'd it go?", she asked.

He gave her another quick kiss, then got back in bed with her. "Like I said, nothing worth getting out of bed for."

"Those two are going to destroy this ship someday." said Tali with a yawn.

"Not on my watch," said Shepard, "one Normandy was enough, I'm not losing another. I don't think Joker would recover from losing another ship."

'You're worrying about how Joker would take it? What about me?" said Tali, barely managing to sound annoyed.

"Sorry, how could I be so inconsiderate?" said Shepard, "Maybe I should shift my focus a bit.". He moved his hand.

Tali let out a squeak, then looked at Shepard, her eyes wide. "Aren't you tired?" she asked.

Apparently, he wasn't.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After a few more hours of deliberation and travel, the Normandy arrived at its next destination, Tuchanka. Shepard had decided that it was time to check in with an old friend to see how his work with the krogan clans was going, maybe catch up and discuss the old days. There hadn't been much time for that while they were fighting the Collectors.

Tali and Garrus boarded the shuttle with him, as well as Grunt. Grunt wanted to talk to the Clan Urdnot's shaman, try to learn a bit more about his adopted clan while Shepard and the others talked with Wrex. Shepard hadn't had a problem with it, but he hoped that Grunt wouldn't start anything. But since that was like hoping water wouldn't be wet, he hadn't let that weigh on his mind too much. Grunt was as tough a krogan as any Shepard had seen, he could handle himself.

As the shuttle touched down on the landing pad and the door swung open, Shepard was greeted as usual by the same guard detachment as last time. They looked threatening, but the lowered their weapons as soon as they recognized Shepard, Tali, and Grunt. That got a flicker of a smile out of Shepard. Apparently, anyone who could kill a thresher maw on foot was plenty badass by krogan standards.

He continued on past them, through the tunnel to what could be called a throne room, for lack of a better word. Grunt nodded to Shepard, then turned right to take the tunnel to the room where the shaman usually stayed, while Shepard and the others continued on to the throne.

As he had been last time, Wrex was having a discussion with a krogan who was probably another clan leader. This time, though, the discussion seemed to be holding a more civil tone. As Shepard approached the dais, Wrex appeared to notice them. He nodded off a few more lines to the krogan he was talking to, who nodded back before walking off. Shepard walked up to the dais, and nodded to Wrex.

"Wrex."

Wrex nodded back.

"Shepard."

Again, Shepard very carefully kept a smile off his face at Wrex's usual greeting. It had been a startling contrast when Wrex had first seen that Shepard was still alive. If he'd reacted the same way this time, Shepard wasn't sure he could have handled that. So he pressed on with his questions.

"How's work going with the clans, Wrex?" he asked.

Wrex shrugged in response, "It's going as well as anything can on Tuchanka. Though ever since you wiped out Clan Weyrloc and took care of that moron Uvenk, there haven't been many more problems. Most other clans have fallen in line, and the rest are getting more used to what I'm doing here."

"Good to hear." said Shepard, "We're gonna need a united krogan force against the Reapers."

Wrex nodded again, "Ah, that sounds like a fight I can get behind. What about those Collectors? I take it their not a problem anymore."

Shepard shook his head. "We went through the Omega 4 relay a few days ago and wiped them out. But they were just working for the Reaper's, they're still the real problem."

Wrex was quiet for a moment, then shook his head. "Why is it that whenever you go on some crazy suicide mission I always get left behind? You still owe me for leaving me behind for that mission on Illos."

This time Shepard did smile a bit, before saying "Don't worry about it Wrex, there'll be enough fight for everyone soon enough." He raised an eyebrow, then added "I just hope all this time on this rock hasn't turned you soft."

Wrex favored him with a murderous look, then rolled his eyes and let out a laugh that sounded reassuringly like bedrock being ripped apart. "You haven't changed at all Shepard."

"Some things have to stay the same, Wrex." said Shepard, "Not much else does."

"True." said Wrex. Then he finally looked past Shepard, noticing Tali and Garrus for the first time. "So this is a reunion, huh?" He shook his head, then nodded at each of them in turn "Garrus, Tali."

"Good to see you Wrex." said Tali.

Garrus nodded back, "Wrex."

Wrex regarded Garrus for a while, then said "You may want to be careful around here Garrus. Turians aren't that popular."

"I appreciate the warning, Wrex." said Garrus, "But I spent the last few years on Omega. I think I can survive a day on Tuchanka."

Wrex looked surprised at that, but let it passed without another comment. Then he looked over at Tali. 'I'm surprised you're not back with your people, Tali. I figured now that this mission is over, you'd have to get back to your ship."

"The Normandy is my ship now, Wrex." said Tali, with a sideways glance at Shepard. Garrus coughed a little, giving Wrex a significant look.

Wrex looked from Tali to Shepard to Garrus for a few moments, then burst out laughing again. It was the most Shepard had ever heard him laugh. It took him a few minutes to finally get himself under control, and by the time he did every krogan in the room had turned to look at the dais. Tali was fidgeting a little, but Shepard didn't show anything. Always the master of emotional control, that was Shepard.

Wrex regarded him for another minute, then snorted again and moved on. "And where's the newest member of Clan Urdnot?"

"Last I saw him he was heading up to talk to your shaman about the ways of your clan." said Shepard. "He got a lot of imprints from Okeer when he was in his tank, he's just having some difficulty sorting through all of them."

"Hmm, I'm sure the shaman should be able to help him out with that." said Wrex. "He's the first tank-born krogan we've ever had around here. But he's krogan at his core, he'll get it together."

"Clan leader." said a voice from behind them, "The representative from the Female Clans wants to speak to you."

Catching up was going to have to wait, then. "Looks like duty calls, Wrex. I'll see you around." said Shepard.

"Good luck Shepard." said Wrex, just the barest hint of a laugh in his voice. "When these Reapers show up, you just let me know. Can't keep me out of three good fights."

"Wouldn't dream of it Wrex." said Shepard.

And with that, he turned and left the dais, heading to the shaman to see how things were going with Grunt.

He'd barely made it halfway up the stairs before Grunt appeared, already on the way back down. Shepard turned to follow when Grunt reached him, and they started making their way back to the shuttle.

"The shaman help you get all your imprints sorted out?" asked Shepard.

Grunt considered that for a moment, then said "I'm starting to understand all these thoughts now. He showed me the place of the krogan in this galaxy, helped me understand my place in the clan. Then he told me there were some things I needed to work out for myself." He shook his head and said "I'm not perfect yet, but I'm better."

"Good to hear Grunt." said Shepard, just as they reached the landing bay.

They all got back into the shuttle, headed up to the Normandy, and plotted a course for Omega.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

With several hours to go before reaching Omega, and most of the crew on their sleep rotation, there wasn't much to do to pass the time.

Fortunately, Skyllian Five was still an option, and Ken seemingly couldn't help himself when it came to gambling. And that's how Shepard came to be sitting at the mess table on the crew deck, along with Ken, Gabby, Garrus, and Tali. Despite Ken's best efforts, Shepard was still winning.

"I don't know how you do it Commander." said Ken, "You must be lucky or something." Ken had vowed after their last game to be cautious around Shepard after Shepard had tricked him out of 500 credits by claiming to be a beginner, but he still couldn't seem to stop himself from betting high.

"He's just got a good poker face, that's all," said Gabby, "and you keep falling for it."

"If it's a poker face that's giving him an edge, then Tali should be beating both of us." said Ken.

"May or may not have been a bit of a card shark growing up." said Shepard in an absent tone as he continued counting up his winnings. Looked like another 500 credits for the evening. "You'd surprised how often the old 'Go easy on the rookie' line works on people."

"Aha!' exclaimed Ken, "I knew it! You're a sneaky one Shepard."

"I didn't get to where I am today by always following the rules." said Shepard.

"Who expects a Spectre to play by anyone's rules but his own, Donnelly?" chimed in Garrus.

Ken thought that over for a minute, then pushed away from the table and stood up. "Ah, the hell with it. I'll get you one day Shepard, just you wait." He turned to Gabby and said "Come on, we still need to calibrate the TFB couplings."

Gabby sighed, then got up as well. "Duty calls. I'll see you guys later." Then she and Kenneth headed back down to Engineering.

That left Shepard, Garrus, and Tali at the table. Shepard leaned back in his chair a bit and said, "Sure is different without the rest of the old Normandy crew here."

"It really is." said Garrus. "I kinda miss that old ship. Smaller than this one, but it had a more cozy feel to it. And not having the rest of the old squad around is just odd."

"I miss Engineer Adams." said Tali. "He was always so nice to me back on the old ship. Helped me get settled in with the old drive core, helped me get familiar with the rest of the ship." She paused, then with a slight smile coloring the words, "Though I think he was always worried that I was going to take his job. He always seemed to be trying not to go into too much detail about how everything worked."

"Heh. That sounds like Adams. I'm glad he managed to get out." said Shepard. Then he looked down at the table, and his smile faded. "Too bad Pressly didn't. He was on the upper decks, he could have made it. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He looked back up at Tali and Garrus and said "Absent friends."

"Absent friends." They echoed back.

"You guys gave me a good rundown on what you were doing over the 2 years I was gone, but you never really talked about what happened almost immediately after the Normandy was destroyed." said Shepard.

Tali and Garrus looked to one another, then Garrus started.

'We were floating around in those escape pods for hours before anyone responded to your distress beacon. The first ship that showed up was the Destiny Ascension, if you can believe it. Apparently it was passing near that system on its victory cruise when they picked up the distress beacon."

Tali picked up there. "After that, it didn't take them long to round up all the escape pods. When they heard you weren't onboard, they spent hours scanning the debris around the planet for any sign of you. The only thing they found was a piece of your armor."

"As soon as we got back to Citadel space, they immediately linked to the FTL network and reported to the Council that the Normandy had been destroyed and you were listed as KIA." said Garrus. "We got a response on a priority line from Councilor Anderson. He wanted to talk to each of us from the Normandy crew, wanted to know exactly what happened. He took it pretty hard. Udina seemed more concerned about humanity losing its first Spectre than about the fact that you were dead. Anderson didn't take that well either."

"When we finally got back to the Citadel, the Council was already preparing for a funeral service in your honor." said Tali. "It was a massive service. You should've seen all the people who turned up. I think I actually have a holo of it somewhere if you want to see it later. There was that agent you helped on Noveria, all the colonists from Zhu's Hope, dozens of officers from the Alliance, the Council Fleet, and the Turian Hierarchy. Admiral Hackett was even there personally, and he gave a wonderful speech about all your service to the Alliance and humanity."

Shepard cut in at that point. "What about the other crew that didn't make it out? Were they given the same respect?"

"They were given a very traditional Alliance military funeral." said Garrus. "The Council attended that one as well, and Admiral Hackett awarded their honors personally."

Shepard nodded, satisfied with that. "When did all of you start drifting apart?"

"Wrex left 2 days after the service." said Garrus. "He said that even though you were gone, the Reapers were still coming, and he still needed to unite his people. Liara started to drift away a week later. All the Alliance personnel were reassigned after another month, and we never heard from any of them." He glanced over at Tali, then went on. "Tali took it pretty hard. Most of us stayed around for as long as we did to help her get back on her feet. By the time she finally went back to the fleet, that just left me." He shrugged, then added "And from there, you already know the rest."

Shepard nodded, mostly to himself, still sorting through all his feelings about what he'd been told. Then he finally decided it didn't matter anymore and filed the thoughts away for later consideration.

He pushed away from the table and stood up. "Thanks for telling me that. It's good to hear that everyone got the respect they deserved, not just me. And it's helping me fill in the gaps."

"Don't mention it Shepard." said Garrus.

"We owe you that much, Shepard." said Tali.

"Well, I guess I'd better go get some shut-eye before we reach Omega. You should too, Garrus." said Shepard, heading towards the elevator.

"I guess I might as well. See you later, Shepard." said Garrus.

Shepard didn't need to ask if Tali was going to get some sleep, she was right next to him the whole way up to the cabin.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

As Omega came into view, Shepard was in the armory getting his gear together. With him were Grunt and Tali, who were also checking over their weapons. Omega was as dangerous a civilized place as any to be found in the Terminus Systems, and it paid to be cautious. Garrus was standing by the door to the CIC.

"I don't see why you're not taking me with you." said Garrus. "I was on Omega a long time. I know my way around, I can handle myself."

"Last time you were there, Garrus," said Shepard, "you had all the mercs on the station gearing up to kill you. We wiped most of them out, and 'Archangel' is presumed to be dead, but I'd rather not take chances."

Garrus clearly wasn't happy with that, but he accepted it with a grudging nod. "Alright Shepard, watch your back. At least you've got enough sense to be taking Grunt with you."

"What about me?" said Tali, "I'm pretty handy with this shotgun, Garrus."

"That may be true, Tali, but it never hurts to have a krogan along." said Garrus.

As they all finished strapping on their weapons and checking their thermal clips, Shepard felt the ship begin to decelerate. By the time the airlock had opened, the shore party was already on the way out.

The first destination on Omega would have to be Aria T'Loak. She was the first place to go for information on this station, but it was always tricky to get her to talk. She'd always been polite with Shepard, but she was still someone to be kept at arm's length.

They headed over to Afterlife, bypassing the line of people waiting to get in. They'd been there often enough that the guard recognized him by sight, and waved him through without delay. The club fare in Afterlife was pretty standard, as far as Shepard could tell. Unlike clubs in most of Citadel space, Afterlife had a much darker, seedier feel to it.

Aria was at her usual spot, on her platform overlooking the rest of the club. Her guards looked a bit shifty about letting Shepard near their boss, but they waved him past. Shepard had done Aria some favors in the past, so he figured the least she could do was give him some information.

Aria wasn't much for greetings, so as soon as Shepard made it past her guards, she nodded to the couch next to her for him to sit down. Shepard regarded her for a moment. She was a striking woman, especially among asari, but that was about all Shepard knew about her. From what he'd been able to gather, she had shown up on Omega several years ago with almost nothing to her name. After several years, she'd managed to buy off or destroy all of her competition to rise to the top of Omega. Not that she would ever come out and say that she was in charge of Omega. Omega had never had any sort of titled ruler, and anyone who tried to declare themselves as such had a habit of disappearing. Titles, notwithstanding, pretty much everyone on the station knew not to mess with her.

"Shepard," said Aria, "you need something?"

"Information." said Shepard. "I need to know who to go to for firepower in the Terminus Systems."

'That is some very specific information." said Aria. "Is it because of the Reapers?"

Shepard was shocked for a moment that she knew about them, but he recovered quickly. Aria always seemed to know things that most other people shouldn't. He proceeded a bit more cautiously. "We need as much firepower as we can get against them. They're on their way here, and they're not gonna stop until all of us are dead. Citadel space is uniting against them, but we need the Terminus systems to do the same."

Aria processed that for a moment. For a moment, her ice queen exterior waivered, and Shepard caught a trace of fear in her. It was subtle, a slight tensing in her shoulders, a slight widening of her eyes, but it was there. After a few more moments, she reassumed control, turning to face Shepard.

"That's not going to be easy." she said. "The systems in Citadel space play by the Councils laws, but out here there are no laws. The groups out here will fight for their survival, but you need to convince them that that's what's at stake. Obviously you're going to need to get the merc groups out here on your side. Combined, the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack have significant firepower. Aside from that, there are a lot of private 'contractors' out here with a lot of experience on solo missions."

Shepard nodded, then said "The current head of the Blue Suns might pose a problem with that. I need to find him. His name's Vido Santiago. We had him at a refinery on Zorya, but he managed to get away before we could take him down. I'd appreciate it if you could find anything out about him."

"I'll see what I can dig up." said Aria, the dismissal in her tone clear.

Shepard nodded, then got up and descended from the platform. As he made his way across the club back to the main entrance, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He had made it through the inner doors and into the entryway to the club before his senses told him that he had picked up a tail. Instead of heading directly back to the airlocks after exiting the club, Shepard took a left and headed to Omega's shop district, motioning Grunt and Tali to continue back to the ship without him with an almost imperceptible nod. They broke off and headed straight for the airlocks, and Shepard felt more than saw whoever was tailing him turn to follow him.

He headed to the shops, stopping in at a few to look over some components and supplies for the Normandy, then headed through a small crowd to try to throw off his tail. He managed to catch a quick glance at him in the reflection of a bulkhead. The images was warped, but he could tell that whoever was following him was a turian.

As he emerged from the crowd, he immediately took a turn towards the lower levels, putting his back to the wall around a corner. He waited for a few moments before the turian walked right past him, still looking for him. At that point, Shepard drew his sidearm, a trusty M-6 Carnifex, and said "Turn around. Slowly."

The turian froze at the sound of his voice, then slowly turned around, making sure to keep his hands in view the whole time. When he had finally turned to face Shepard, his face tattoos looked extremely familiar. It took Shepard a few moments to place the memory, but when he did he lowered the pistol slightly and said "Sidonis. We've gotta stop running into each other like this."

Sidonis relaxed slightly and nodded. "Don't I know it, Shepard."

Shepard put the pistol away. Sidonis looked much the same as he had when Shepard had first met him on the Citadel. Shepard had been there to distract Sidonis while Garrus had lined up a shot with his sniper rifle. Garrus had been blaming Sidonis for the deaths of his teammates on Omega and had been there to repay Sidonis for his betrayal. In the end, Shepard had managed to stall long enough for Sidonis to explain his actions, and Garrus had decided to let him go. Now that Shepard looked, though, the haunted look that he had seen in Sidonis' eyes back then had lessened somewhat.

"What're you doing on Omega, Sidonis?" asked Shepard. "I thought there were people here who wanted you dead."

"Well, thanks to you and Garrus, those people are all dead." replied Sidonis. "And I figured if I stayed out here, Garrus would be less likely to run into me and change his mind about letting me go."

Shepard nodded, then pressed on with his question. "So, is there a reason you've been following me?"

"Keeping a promise." said Sidonis. "You remember how I said I'd find a way to make up what I did to Garrus?" Shepard nodded, and Sidonis pressed on. "I've been rebuilding our old team, finding as many elite people as I can. After all you and your team have done, I thought another team like yours could be valuable against these Reapers you keep talking about."

"So you were listening in on my conversation with Aria, then?" asked Shepard.

Sidonis nodded. "When I saw you walk in, I figured it might be a good opportunity to learn about what we're up against." He shuddered a little "Kinda wish I hadn't now."

Shepard shrugged, "Hey, if I could forget about the Reapers, I'd probably happier for it. But the galaxy wouldn't." He shook his head. "I need to be getting back to my ship. Good seeing you Sidonis, good luck with your team."

Sidonis nodded "Thanks Shepard. Let Garrus know I'm working to make up for what I did, and that I hope he can forgive me, one day."

Shepard nodded, then headed back to the Normandy. As soon as he was through the airlock, Tali had already walked up to him and hugged him. She was shaking a little, but she looked up at him and said in a very steady voice "Don't you ever scare me like that again. I thought you were in trouble."

Shepard hugged her back, then held her at arm's length and said "It was nothing to worry about. Just someone I needed to talk to. I'm fine."

Tali's body language looked annoyed, but Shepard could tell she was just glad to see he was alright. He gave her another quick hug, then headed to the cockpit.

"Alright Joker, we're done here. Set a course for Illium."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

With Illium still several hours away, Shepard again found himself in his cabin with Tali. They were sitting together on the couch, her leaning against him, his arm around her shoulders. She still seemed a little shaken over his encounter on Omega, and Shepard wanted to make sure she was alright.

She snuggled up against him a bit more, then looked up at him and said "You know, Shepard, you know a lot about my life, but I don't know that much about yours. Who were your parents, where were you from?"

Shepard leaned his head back against the bulkhead and thought about it. It had been a while since he'd thought about his past. He didn't like thinking about it if he could avoid it, but he had asked a lot of Tali, and he owed her some background in return. He took a moment to get his thoughts in order, then began.

"I was born back on Earth. Don't really remember my parents. Lived on the streets for the most part, learned how to survive there. You've gotta get creative when you're on your own like that." He looked Tali in the eyes and smiled a little, "But I guess you already know that, don't you?"

Tali smiled a little in return. "My Pilgrimage wasn't too bad, a few run-ins with the geth, then when I got to the Citadel I had to get interrogated by C-Sec for a few hours. There was that whole business with Fist." She smiled a bit more widely, "And then I met you."

Shepard smiled that got a bigger smile out of Shepard, as he thought back to that day. "I remember that. I remember you took out most of the most of Fists men by yourself. That was pretty impressive." He looked her over a bit, then met her eyes again "You seemed so young back then."

She blushed a little in response to that and let out a small giggle. "I wasn't that young, Shepard. You have to grow up quick in this galaxy." Her smile faded a little, and Shepard had a feeling he knew what she was thinking of. "Losing you showed me that. Losing my friends on all those missions for the Board showed me that too."

Shepard hugged her a little closer. "Tali, what happened at Haestrom wasn't your fault, Tali. Your friends knew the risks, they knew what they had to do. And you didn't lose everyone. Kal made it out at least."

She sniffled a little. "Yeah, you're right. At least Kal made it. He always does." She looked Shepard in the eyes again. "You know what it's like, don't you. I heard about what happened on Akuze."

Shepard stiffened up in response. If he didn't like talking about his past, he liked talking about Akuze even less. He and his squad had been on a routine patrol when they were attacked by a group of thresher maws. His team hadn't been equipped for that sort of fight, and hadn't lasted that long. In the end, only Shepard had been able to escape.

"Yeah," he said, "I know what that feels like. The only difference is that none of my friends made it out. I was the only one."

Tali shifted in place, and took Shepard's face in her hands, planting a soft kiss on his lips. Then she pulled away and looked Shepard in the eyes again. "Shepard, you couldn't have known that was going to happen. You can be beating yourself up about it after all these years."

Shepard kept looking in her eyes. At this point those eyes were the only thing keeping him from breaking down completely under the weight of the guilt. "Someone has to be responsible." he murmured, "Might as well be me."

Tali shook her head, never breaking eye contact. "That's not true, Shepard. It wasn't your fault. You need to let this go."

"The moment I forget why those men died, their deaths stop meaning anything." said Shepard.

"You can still remember them Shepard." said Tali, "You just can't keep tearing yourself apart about it."

For a moment, for one brief second, Shepard's grip on his emotions faltered. His impassive mask of command fell away, and his eyes became haunted. For Tali, the change was startling. She had never seen Shepard as vulnerable looking as he was at that moment. So she shuffled over onto his lap, and hugged him tightly while his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

It took him several minutes to get himself back under control, and when he met Tali's eyes, his were now bloodshot, but a measure of the haunted look in them had vanished. He set his hand in her face, stroking one thumb over her cheek, and gave her a tired smile. "You're an angel." he said, "What would I do without you?"

She gave him another kiss and smiled back at him. "You'd probably be a wreck inside a week."

He smiled back and then yawned. "I'm pretty tired, how 'bout you?"

She nodded back, and they both made their way over to the bed. And for tonight, there was no passion, just love and mutual comfort. They were asleep inside a minute


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

As the ship finally passed through the relay at Illium, Shepard was woken by an elbow being dug gently into his ribs.

"Let me up, Shepard, we're almost at Illium." said Tali. "We need to start getting our gear together."

In response, Shepard tightened his arms around her waist, mumbling "Illium can wait a few more minutes, don't you think?"

After a little more half-hearted squirming and a few giggles, Tali settled down again. "If you insist, Shepard."

It was only a few extra minutes, but they both enjoyed them to the fullest. Shepard loved the feel of Tali's body, the sense of willingness she exuded, and Tali always felt safe when she was in Shepard's arms. They lay there, utterly content in their love for each other, until EDI's terminal over by the cabin door powered on.

"Commander, we are making our final approach. We should be on the landing pad in 2 minutes."

Shepard let out an almost inaudible growl, then replied "Thank you EDI, I'll be right down."

"Of course, Commander." said EDI, powering down the terminal.

Shepard grumbled to himself a little bit more, then looked at Tali, giving her a tired smile. "We'd better get ready."

Tali nodded, then got out of bed and started slipping her enviro-suit back on. As she did, she glanced over her shoulder at Shepard, who was also getting dressed. "I haven't seen Liara since your funeral, you know. How is she?"

Shepard paused for a moment, considering how to respond. The years since his death had apparently been hard on Liara. But unlike Tali, who had been able to move on with her life thanks to her dedication to the Flotilla, Shepard had the feeling that Liara hadn't had anyone to help her through the time after the Normandy was destroyed. From what he'd been able to get out of her, Liara had managed to amass some sort of debt to a shadowy organization known as the Shadow Broker. This, combined with going through Shepard's death alone had changed her, and Liara had reminded Shepard quite a bit of her mother, Matriarch Benezia.

He shook himself out of that line of thought long enough to dodge the question. "I'll let you be the judge of that." Tali studied his face for a second, trying to see what he was hiding, then accepted the dodge with a nod and resumed her dressing.

Having dodged the question for the moment, Shepard continued putting in his uniform. As he did, he continued his line of though. Thinking back to the time before the Normandy was destroyed, Liara had always been distant, especially since Shepard had brought her to the mission on Noveria where Shepard had been forced to kill her mother. Shepard couldn't imagine how painful it had been for her to help him do it, but she had. With that in mind, Shepard could see how losing him on top of her mother may have moved Liara in a darker direction. Add in whatever problems she was having with the Shadow Broker, and her shift in personality became that much more understandable.

Tali and Shepard both finished dressing, and headed down to the CIC. Garrus was already waiting for them at the airlock.

"Who said you were coming along, Garrus?" asked Shepard.

In response, Garrus snorted and said "You wanted a reunion tour squad when we went to visit Wrex. Since we're going to visit Liara now, I figured you'd want to do the same." He paused for a moment, then added, "Besides, you always pick me and Tali for shore party. You'd be lost without us."

Shepard viciously fought down a smile. "I swear Garrus, next time we're on an uncharted planet, I'm knocking you out and leaving your smug ass there."

That got a chuckle out of Garrus. By that point the Normandy had touched down on Illium, and the airlock was cycling open.

As they made their way across the trading floor to Liara's office, Shepard always had to take a moment to admire the view. Illium was an predominantly asari world, and it showed in the city's design. The skyline was absolutely breathtaking. For a brief moment, he felt Tali press up against him, and he slipped an arm around her shoulder. He knew that she loved just looking at the place as much as he did, and quarians were generally kept away from Illium. They admired the view for a few more moments, then continued on to Liara's office.

They climbed the stairs to the office and headed straight for the door, nodding to Liara's secretary on the way through. Liara was working at her terminal but her head snapped up on hearing the door open. She looked at Shepard, Garrus, and Tali in turn, and for just a moment her mask slipped, and Shepard could see the Liara he remembered from his days on the SR1. Then the moment passed, and her neutral mask slipped back into place, and it was all business. She gestured to the chairs on the other side of her desk.

"Shepard, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"I just thought I'd check in with you, see how your work here is going." said Shepard. "Any luck with the Shadow Broker?"

"We've managed to gather enough information on his agents here to eliminate his Observer for this area," replied Liara, "so we should be able to speak a bit more freely." Her expression turned ugly for a second. "We're close Shepard. Soon we'll have all the information we need to destroy the Shadow Broker, for all the pain its caused."

The look on Liara's face made Shepard more than a little uncomfortable. "Don't let this turn you into something you're not Liara. You're not your mother, you're a good person."

For some reason, Shepard's words appeared to strike a nerve in Liara, and her icy composure faltered again. She stared down at her desk, refusing to meet his eyes. "I may not be my mother, Shepard, but I'm not a good person."

She looked Shepard in the eyes, and Shepard could have sworn she looked like the naive, frightened scientist that she had been when he had rescued from Therum. "There's something about the last 2 years that I haven't told you."

Shepard leaned a bit forward in his seat, cautiously interested. "What is it Liara?"

She looked down at her desk again. "Cerberus weren't the ones who recovered your body. It was me."

Shepard froze at that. He ran through a broad spectrum of emotions. Shock came first, followed almost immediately by rage, laced with just the slightest amount of pity and understanding. His emotions wrestled for control for a few more moments before Shepard simply buried them beneath the cold, calculating determination that so many years of command had taught him to hold. He looked to one side to see Garrus and Tali sitting completely still. Garrus' jaw had dropped in an expression of complete shock, and judging by her body language, Tali probably was wearing a similar expression.

Shepard's gaze swiveled back to Liara, who was still refusing to look at him. "If you recovered my body, Liara, how did Cerberus end up with it?"

She continued, and her voice was shaking now. "They found out that I had you, I'm still not sure how, perhaps the Shadow Broker. They sent agents after me, tracked me down."

Garrus cut in. "They took Shepard by force?"

Now Liara was really trying not to look at any of them. "No. They told me they could bring him back. They said they could rebuild him, and that they would help him fight the Reapers."

At this point, Tali's composure broke. "And you believed them? You trusted them with Shepard? You've seen what Cerberus has done Liara. You know how they operate, and you know what their agenda is. How could you possibly do that?"

Tali's word struck Liara like hammer blows, and she visibly flinched. Then she finally looked up again, meeting Shepard's eyes. Hers looked absolutely haunted.

"I knew about Cerberus, Shepard. I knew their methods, what they represent, what they're working towards. I knew Cerberus would use you for their own business and I let it happen… because… I couldn't let you go." She looked away from him again. "I don't expect you to forgive me for what I did. I just thought you deserved to know."

Tali made as if to rise from her chair in indignant fury but hesitated as Garrus' hand grasped her arm. Slowly, he shook his head and Tali reluctantly sat back in her seat, her arms folded in mute contempt.

Shepard's emotions came roaring to the forefront of his mind again. Part of him wanted to go to Liara, give her a hug, and tell her that he understood what she had done and didn't blame her for it. His darker side, however, wanted to rant, to tell her that it was her fault that he had gotten mixed up with Cerberus, the fact that her decision had brought him back to life be damned.

For the longest time, Shepard had always chalked it up to simple bad luck that had caused him to get caught up in Cerberus' plans. But now he realized that the truth was far worse. Someone else had done it to him. Someone who he had considered a friend, who he had trusted to watch his back through so many mission, had given him to an organization that represented the worst of humanity, an organization that placed human dominance over all other interests, and organization that would go to any lengths, sacrifice anyone, to achieve that goal. And Liara had handed him to them.

The voice of reason lost the battle to control Shepard's emotions, and he simply shut them all away again under the icy shell of command.

Without another word, he rose from his seat, turned, and left the office, Garrus and Tali following suit. They made their way back to the Normandy, and headed back out into space.

Not once did Shepard look back.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As the Normandy sped away from Illium, Shepard found himself on the crew deck in the mess hall. Most of the crew was either still at work or else on sleep rotation, so he had the place to himself. He was still thinking about what Liara had told him, trying to sort out the mess of his feeling on the subject, when a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see Garrus taking a seat across from him.

"Still thinking about what Liara did, eh Shepard?"

Shepard nodded absently, still too deep in thought to speak at the moment. As he began shutting his emotions away enough for him to speak, Garrus pressed on.

"Look Shepard, I'm not going to say what she did was right, but you've got to see it from her perspective. She took your loss the hardest, aside from Tali, and unlike Tali, she didn't really have any way to deal with it after we all went our separate ways. I had my work, Tali had the Flotilla, and Wrex had his people, but I don't think Liara ever had anyone."

Shepard nodded again, still trying to get his thoughts in order. Garrus continued to push.

"Shepard, I don't like Cerberus any more than you do, and Liara took a big risk with you, but it's because of her and Cerberus that you're alive right now. You can't blame her for doing whatever she could to get you back. You and the rest of us on the Normandy where probably the only people to care about her after she lost her mother. I listened to you about Sidonis, now you need to listen to me."

Which was true, now that Shepard thought about it. In fact, given how he'd talked Garrus out of blaming Sidonis for betraying his squad out of fear, it would be hypocrisy to the highest degree for him to blame Liara for doing what she did out of concern, maybe even love for all he knew.

He gave Garrus a tired smile and said "Well, when you put it like that, it makes me feel like an ass."

Garrus chuckled at that. "I've been there too Shepard. And I almost shot Sidonis. You didn't almost shoot Liara."

Shepard rubbed at his eyes with one hand, then ran it over his buzz cut. "I can't blame her for what she did. It's just with everything that's happened the last few weeks, coming back from the dead, the Collectors, the Reapers, I guess I'm just wired a little tight."

"Heh. Can't say I blame you, Shepard. I'm not sure how I would have handled what you've had to go through. Just remember your squad is here."

Shepard nodded back, then rose and headed for the elevator, heading down to Engineering. For once, Tali was down there by herself, Ken and Gabby were on their sleep rotation. He quietly snuck up behind her while she worked at her console, then slipped his arms around her waist as soon as he was close enough, pulling her close and drawing a squeak out of her in response. She squirmed for a second in surprise before setting her hands on Shepard's and leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder.

"Come on, Shepard, I need to check on this engine." she said, making a slight effort to pull away.

Shepard gripped her more tightly in response. "I checked with EDI before I came in here. The engine's fine. You finished working on it about half an hour ago, you've just been running the same diagnostics over and over." He relaxed his grip on her, gently turning her to face him. "Something's bothering you, isn't it?"

She placed both her hands on his chest and looked down at them. "I just can't believe Liara would just give you to Cerberus like that. They brought you back, I can admit that, but I can't believe that she would trust them like that."

"Well, in the end, it did bring me back, and Cerberus didn't implant me with any control chips, and I got to do some good." replied Shepard. He hooked one finger under Tali's chin, tilting her head up to face him. "And now I know who to thank for giving me a second chance to be with you."

She thought that over for a moment, then took her hands off his chest and hugged him. He hugged her back, gently. "I guess I never thought about it that way." said Tali.

Shepard nodded absently, then relaxed his grip on her, holding her at arms' length. "Thinking about it now, there's something I've been meaning to ask you, Tali."

He could see her eyes glowing straight through her visor. "What is it, Shepard?"

He started to speak, then glanced back towards the doors to the lower levels and the cargo areas. He glanced back to Tali and headed towards the elevator, leading her by the hand.

When they made it up to his cabin, he guided her over to the bed, sitting at the foot of it with her.

"So, what's this all about, Shepard?" asked Tali.

"I've been thinking for a while. All that's happened, me dying, the Collectors, the last mission, what Liara did. All that's still going to happen, mainly the Reapers. Make you think, you know?"

Tali nodded, not saying anything. Shepard pressed on.

"Makes you think about how you're gonna spend your life if you manage to survive everything that's coming." He met her eyes, "And who you want to spend it with."

Tali's heart started beating a bit faster, but she still kept quiet, not trusting herself to speak. Shepard continued.

"Tali, I've given up a lot in service to the Alliance, and to the Council. I've lost comrades, I've lost friends, and I've almost lost myself at times in the line of duty. I gave up one life for the galaxy, and it was a life full of doubts and regrets. But my biggest regret would have been never noticing you for who you are. And that isn't a mistake that I'm going to make twice. When this is over, when the Reapers are stopped, and the galaxy is at peace, I plan to end that old life completely. And I want to start another one. With you."

Tali stopped breathing completely for a moment, and she was completely overcome with emotion, her love for Shepard roaring to the front of her mind. She studied his face in that shocked silence, seeing a reflection of her love in him. But behind all that, she saw a flicker of doubt is his eyes. He was afraid she would refuse.

The sight of that alone almost broke her heart. After all that Shepard had been through, she couldn't bear the thought of putting him through that kind of pain. Of course, in the end, that wasn't going to happen. She'd spent her whole life after meeting Shepard hoping that one day he would say those words to her, to ask that one unspoken question with them. And in her mind, her response was a foregone conclusion.

So with one hand, she reached up and popped the seals on her mask, set it down on the bed next to her, and pulled back her hood. She gave Shepard her most brilliant smile, and spoke the one word she knew he wanted to hear. "Yes."

And before the look of joy had finished appearing on Shepard's face, she was already on top of him, pressing him down to the bed, kissing him with such passion she thought they might both burst into flames from the pure heat of it. He responded in kind, reaching up with one hand to grasp the back of her neck, pulling her even deeper into the kiss.

After an indeterminate amount of time, they broke contact, just for a moment. In that moment, Tali could see the love in Shepard's eyes, and beneath that, a low current of desire, his eyes practically smoldering with both. They didn't say anything, they didn't have to. Then they continued, their passion growing and growing with each passing moment, their love for each other absolute.

An hour later, they lay together on the bed in each others' arms. Shepard looked at Tali, who had fallen asleep shortly after, and gently kissed her hair. She snuggled a little closer to him in response.

At that point, Shepard realized that no matter what happened with the Reaper's, and whatever happened after, he and Tali were going to have a future together. And he would sacrifice whatever was necessary to make that happen.


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

Shepard had woken up before Tali again a few minutes earlier. He had slowly released his grip on her without waking her, gotten dressed and headed down to the CIC. Nobody else was there, all the crew of that deck were on their sleep rotation. It was a good place to think.

As Shepard stood on the platform overlooking the galaxy map, he thought about all he had done to prepare the galaxy for the coming threat. The Council had finally been alerted to the Reaper threat and was preparing to rally Citadel Space for a fight. The Illusive Man and Cerberus were, for the moment at least, still on their side, if only because the Reapers represented such a great threat to their own plans. Wrex was continuing his work to unite the krogan on Tuchanka, to hopefully create a powerful fighting force against the Reapers. The Migrant Fleet would have a home soon, which meant the largest fleet in the galaxy would soon be ready for a fight.

But despite all that, there was still more to do. The various mercenary groups of the galaxy needed to be brought over to the cause. The geth's assistance against the Reapers had been confirmed by Legion, but their forces still had yet to make an appearance. The Rachni has sent a messenger pledging their support, but their numbers and fighting strength were unknown.

And completely taking into account all that had been done, and all that had to be done, Shepard had a sinking feeling that he hadn't been quick enough to find the evidence that people needed to take the Reapers seriously. The Council was going to work now, but would it honestly be quick enough to fight a war that no one in the galaxy could afford to lose? Despite all the impossible odds that Shepard had overcome in his life, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was a fight he couldn't win.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he never heard the elevator doors open, and didn't know Tali was there until she was already pressed up beside him. He looked over to her and was only vaguely surprised to see that he had slipped an arm around her shoulder. Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing her mask now and was holding it in her off hand. She looked him in the eyes and smiled, and it was quite literally the most beautiful thing Shepard had ever seen in his life.

It suddenly crossed his mind what it would be like to lose her, what it would be like to watch her die.

His doubts vanished immediately, and he hugged her more tightly against him.

The Reapers had managed to exterminate all galactic life countless times over the millennia. They weren't going to do it again. Not as long as Shepard and his team were there to stop them.


	21. Hello Again

Apologies to all for the lateness and probable insubstantiality of this entry. Inspiration for me sort of dried up after the ending of Mass Effect 3. At first the utter lack of difference between the ending options and the depressing note they all ended on gave a rather intense sense of the pointlessness of the experience. Having had time to think on it, however, I have decided to choose the Blue ending (for those unfamiliar with the details of the endings) as my canon for my upcoming project _Aftermath_. Stay tuned in the coming days for the first chapter, hope you like it.

It's good to be back.


	22. Aftermath has been reborn as Rendition

So very very sorry for the massive absence, but I've finally gotten my act together for this story, which is now live. Please read, comment, and review :) and I promise to not go so long without an update this time.


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